Naruto the Tenacious Tiger
by Whispers12
Summary: A trip with the Sandaime goes wrong, war breaks out, Naruto becomes the Tenacious Tiger. M-rating to be safe. Pairings undecided most likely a harem though. suggestions welcome.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: The Sandaime Hokage goes on his annual trip to meet the Fire Daimyo, he decides it would be a great learning experience for Naruto and brings him along. On the way to the capitol the Hokage, Naruto and the Hokage's guard are attacked by some missing-nins and bandits. He gets separated from the group and winds up wandering around the world making friends and allies along the way. War breaks out and the Diamyo's of Oto, Ame & Iwa send armies into Hi no Kuni in the hopes of gaining territory. Naruto joins the Fire Diamyo's army 2 years after the war has started at the age of 12.

AN: Academy grad is at 16 years old. I might be taking stuff from other animes but this is not a crossover. Definitely an AU story he will be traveling for around 10 years with people he meets Suggestions always welcome. Strong, Observant, Intelligent & Mature Naruto.

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO AND OTHER CHARACTERS I AM TAKING FROM ANIMES AND GAMES:(....**

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5 years after Kyuubi Attack

It was a peaceful morning in Konoha the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The sun shone bright in the sky , no sign of clouds for miles and a calm breeze. The people of the village were merrily going about their business, the children were playing all in all it was the perfect day for everyone. Everyone except a certain 64 year old Sandaime Hokage.

Taking a break from the constant stamping and signing that is his job, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed "This paperwork will be the end of me." Pulling out his trusty old pipe he loads the bowl with some tobacco and uses a small fire justu to light it. Taking a few drags from it he stands and walks to the window and looks over his people.

"I wonder where little Naruto-kun is?" as soon as that sentence left his lips a chunin barged into the office and screamed. "Hokage-sama Naruto has been causing trouble again!" the Sandaime sighed thinking that Naruto's pranks were all well and good unless somebody gets hurt. "Dog!" the Dog masked ANBU appeared. "Locate Naruto-kun and bring him here."

"Hai Hokage-sama!" and with that said Dog disappeared to find the little blonde.

Sitting down in his chair Sarutobi begins to think about what to do with the energetic blonde. _"What to do with you Naruto-kun..." _throwing thoughts back and forth he begins to formulate a plan. _"Well he will be starting the academy next year maybe he will calm down some." _further thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Dog and Naruto.

"You are dismissed Dog." ordered Sarutobi

"What'cha ya want ji-chan?" asked Naruto pouting slightly

Taking in the appearance of the 5 year old boy Sarutobi notices that his overalls are covered in some kind of substance from his prank earlier. He is a bit smaller than the average toddler. His blonde hair was spiked, his azure blue eyes shown with mischief, three whisker-like marks adorned both cheeks.

Leaning back into his chair Sarutobi takes a long drag of his pipe and replies. "What are your dreams Naruto-kun?" waiting patiently for his answer he observes the child in front of him. Expecting him to shout out his answer he was mildly surprised to see the shift in the boys behavior as the boy contemplates his reply.

"I want to become strong."

"Is that all Naruto-kun?"

"No, I want to become the strongest ninja so that I can protect myself." Naruto said while his eyes reflected pain. Now Naruto was not ignorant to all the latent hate and spite that most of the villagers and shinobi held for him he just didn't know why.

"Just yourself or are there people you wish to protect also?" looking into the boys azure blue depths.

"Of course ji-chan, theres you, Teuchi ji-chan, and Ayame-chan too!" Sarutobi's eyes looked saddened by the amount of people that were close to Naruto due to his burden. Which did not go unnoticed by the boy.

"Good, as long as you have someone or something to protect you will become strong." Sarutobi says thinking of something more to motivate him. "But you know as the Hokage I am the strongest in the village, so you will have to become stronger than me in order to protect me." smirking at the face that Naruto was making he waited for the boy to start yelling.

"Than I will become Hokage and become strong enough to protect you ji-chan!" he said pumping his fist into the air.

Sarutobi could see the fire in the boys eyes and chuckled. "I believe you will Naruto-kun but you will have to become a ninja first. You know you will start the academy next year why don't you try and get a head start on learning the things they learn there?"

"How will I do that I don't have anyone to help me, all the other kids have families to help them out?" Naruto looked down. Sarutobi saw this and decided to help him out.

"Well Naruto-kun how 'bout I help you out I will give you some books that will help you on your path to become the strongest Hokage." getting up he motioned for Naruto to follow. Walking to the office door they walk out. "Ah Shoki-chan hold all appointments I have some business to attend to with little Naruto-kun here." Sarutobi ruffled his hair at the end and chuckled seeing the pouting look on his face.

"Hai Hokage-sama! Hello there Naruto-kun how have you been?" replied the Shoki. She was in her mid twenties, she is a retired gennin that quit because she couldn't see herself going any further as a ninja. She had black hair in a ponytail going to the small of her back. Shoki was a plain looking woman though some would call her cute. She saw Naruto almost everyday when he would visit the Hokage, she knew he was the container of the Kyuubi but didn't see him as the fox. She believed in the Yondaime's skill in fuuinjutsu and knew the difference between the scroll and the kunai sealed in the scroll.

"I'm good Shoki-neechan, ji-chan is taking me to get some things so that I will be ready to go to the academy next year."

"Really, well you better do good than because becoming a ninja is hard work." she replied

"Hai neechan!" Naruto said with the utmost enthusiasm which made the Hokage and his secretary laugh.

"Well come on Naruto-kun lets see what kind of things you will need. I'll be back later Shoki-chan we'll leave you be now." Sarutobi said leading Naruto out of the building.

"Hai Hokage-sama see you when you get back. Bye Naruto-kun." Shoki said waving to the boy.

"Bye Shoki-neechan!" waving goodbye while he tries to keep pace with the Sandaime.

Walking out of the tower the Sandaime Hokage was once again thinking of what he can do for the blonde ball of sunshine next to him. _"Well if he is anything like his father and mother than he has a lot of potential...hmm...well I will let him decide once we get to the library in my house."_ looking down at the boy he notices his behavior is quite subdued. He sees Naruto's eyes darting left and right at the stares and glares of the villagers and sighs. _"If only they would stop and get to know the boy they would see that he is no demon."_ see his discomfort Sarutobi rest a hand on Naruto's shoulder and gives a reassuring squeeze seeing the boy relax somewhat into the comforting gesture he looks forward and notices they are almost to their destination.

"Where are we going ji-chan?"

"Hm, well we are going to the library in my house to get you some books that will help you figure out what you wanna learn."

"Oh, cool so I get to pick out which books I want then right?"

"Hai I might throw in a few books or scrolls that I deem necessary or feel you might like. Ah look we're here." says Sarutobi reaching for his key. Opening the door to his home and all the Hokage's before him he leads Naruto through it and towards the library. Upon reaching the library Sarutobi puts his bites his thumb and wipes it on the blood seal to allow entrance to the library. Recognizing the blood of Sarutobi the seal glows and then fades while a clicking sound is heard signifying that it is unlocked, pushing the door open so he can walk in he motions for Naruto to follow him in as well. The sight that greeted Naruto was a library so grand that there were shelves filled with scrolls and books from wall to wall.

"Well Naruto-kun let me list for you some things that you can learn they are Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, Fuuinjutsu, and Kinjutsu. Many people prefer to use the flashy techniques so they choose Ninjutsu. In Konoha we only have one Taijutsu master and he is one if not the strongest Jounin we have. Genjutsu is kind of a lost art because people prefer Ninjutsu over the subtle Genjutsu but don't dismiss Genjutsu masters of this art can turn the tide of a battle with one simple illusion. Now in Konoha we only have one Kenjutsu master but in Kiri they have tons like the Seven Swordsman who are masters of this art and are deadly in the field. Fuuinjutsu not many are into this art because it is one of the more tedious ones to master but very few follow this path but if they do the versatility of this art is what many don't look at you can do many things like add seals to weapons to make them even more powerful or carry all your items in a single scroll. Kinjutsu is much more dangerous than the previous arts not many go after this because you can lose your life or some of the jutsu require require great sacrifices and some jutsu's are dark and twisted." Taking a deep breath after that long winded explanation of the arts that the ninja used.

"To use any of these except Taijutsu in some cases you must be able to use chakra. Chakra is important and so is being able to control your chakra. I myself am known as the "God of Shinobi" or "The Professor" due to my mastery and skill in all the jutsu known in Konoha. So now that you know some of the things choose which you would like to begin working on." Sarutobi concluded while taking a seat in a chair in the room.

Naruto sat there and absorbed the information that was just given to him by his ji-chan and thought. _"Hmm well I know I wanna learn Ninjutsu, Taijutsu for sure...Hmm the Yondaime was also a master of Fuuinjutsu so I wanna learn that it would be good to also learn how to use a weapon so kenjutsu it is...maybe I could learn the basics in Genjutsu also so that I can dispel them and cast minor ones...OK I think I got it I'll let ji-chan know now."_ finishing his pondering Naruto turns to Sarutobi and tells him what he wants to learn.

"Ji-chan I wanna learn Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Fuuinjutsu, and Kenjutsu. But I also wanna learn the basics of Genjutsu to so I can learn to dispel them. If learn all these I will become a ninja that can be sent into different situations." Naruto says.

"Hm, that is a very big task to take on Naruto-kun It will take a lot of determination to accomplish this are you sure you want to do that?" Sarutobi said checking to see if his surrogate grandson had the resolve to complete this lofty goal.

Naruto just looked up at Sarutobi and locked the old man in a steely gaze that showed the fire in his eyes that he was willing to do what he said. "Of course I want to ji-chan if I'm gonna be the Hokage I need to know all these things so I can become a successful shinobi!"

"Alright Naruto-kun lets see if we can find you the books about the arts that you want to learn. Now remember none of these scrolls or books will hold jutsu for you to learn they hold information on them, they may mention jutsu but the books and scrolls don't have the hand seals to them." Sarutobi said before leading him through all the aisles of books and scrolls.

So the day went on with Sarutobi guiding little Naruto through the library picking out books and scrolls that caught his interest or dealt with the things that Naruto wanted to learn. He had told Naruto to pick the books and put them on a table and told him that if the scroll or book was one of a kind that he would write a copy of it and have it sent to him when it was done. The books ranged from the very basics of chakra to survival skills and even a few books on crafting items. When they had finished scouring the library Sarutobi had made several scrolls to seal the books and scrolls into. The scrolls were labeled and separated into basics, intermediate, and master.

Checking the material that he grabbed Naruto picked up the first book and read the title "Legendary and Mythical Items, People & Animals" he flipped it open and saw that the first entry in the book was about the Rikudou Sennin the founder of the ninja world. Closing the book he picks up another and reads the title "Fuuinjutsu through the Ages" by Minato Namikaze Naruto was excited he had found a book written by his hero the Yondaime. Thinking to himself that this would be the first book he was going to read he set it down and continued going over his miniature library of information. When he was done he watched as Sarutobi sealed the books and scrolls into the scrolls and handed them to him. Sarutobi showed him how to unseal and seal the books back into the scrolls.

After all the work was done Sarutobi noticed that the sun had fallen and it was now nighttime. Calling one of his trusty ANBU to escort the boy back to his apartment he walked back to his office. On his way he was deep in thought thinking about his decision today by helping prepare Naruto for the future sighing he thinks. _"I know I made the right decision in helping him his life is hard enough with the villagers always holding him down due to the Kyuubi..."_ looking up into the sky all he can do is hope for the best.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Academy grad is at 16 years old. I might be taking stuff from other animes but this is not a crossover. Definitely an AU story he will be traveling for around 10 years with people he meets Suggestions always welcome. Strong, Observant, Intelligent & Mature Naruto.

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO AND OTHER CHARACTERS I AM TAKING FROM ANIMES AND GAMES:(....**

* * *

A Year and a Half Later

Naruto is now 6 years old. He was recently enrolled in Konoha's ninja academy. It was the first day of the ninja academy the Hokage was scheduled to show up and make an announcement dealing with the changes to the ninja academy that would be implemented. On his way to school he thought back to all the things that he accomplished over the past year.

_Flashback start_

_Naruto was excited he was now on his way to becoming a ninja he had spent the last year reading all of the beginner class scrolls and books. He has studied up on all the survival books that the Sandaime had suggested along with geography, and a few books on the local animals and edible plants. _

_He has also unlocked his chakra after reading how to do it in one of his chakra books. So far his control is a little better than academy due to completing the leaf exercise and is in the process of adding more leaves. So far he has learned a few beginner level seals from the fuuinjutsu book written by the Yondaime. The seals include a small storage seal, flash tags, shock tags and exploding tags. He also has a basic understanding on genjutsu & ninjutsu, though he hasn't learned any jutsu he understands the need to one day add them into his repertoire of skills._

_He has yet to start any actual training in his kenjutsu due to not knowing which type of sword he wants to use, though he is leaning towards a katana or double kodachi. His taijutsu training consists of him building up his endurance, speed, and power. After he finished reading the book on the basics of taijutsu he had the Sandaime get him some chakra weights, so far his total is 70 pounds; 10 pounds on each limb and 30 on his waist. His training in kunai and shuriken is progressing faster than his other subjects._

_His training schedule for the past year consisted of stretching for an hour after he wakes up then doing 100 push-ups, 100 chin-ups, 100 squats and 100 sit-ups. He also ran laps around the Hokage mountain and after every lap he would try to run faster and beat his previous time until he could run around the mountain in under a minute; so far he is at 1 minute and 18 seconds. He would run laps until noon when he would have lunch with the Sandaime. He ate healthy due to reading a book on health though he would still buy a few bowls of ramen every other day at Ichiraku's._

_After his physical exercises he would continue his studying from his books. He was also becoming a good strategist he learned that he was a natural at making up plans on the fly. He would often play shogi with the Sandaime. He would read books in a cycle by subject it went chakra & control-fuuinjutsu-taijutsu-ninjutsu-genjutsu-kenjutsu-misc.-and repeat the process. He learned many things but his favorite thing to read up on was legendary things. He was fascinated by some of the things that came up like how the Yondaime could wipe out an entire battalion of ninja in a blink of an eye with his _Hiraishin no jutsu. _He was also amazed at how the Shodai Hashirama Senju could manipulate wood, and how his brother Tobirama Senju was known as the greatest water user in the elemental countries. But what caught his eye was the sword that the Nidaime used in cooperation with his water jutsu's to make them even more powerful the Raijin. It was a sword made of pure lightning chakra._

_Overall his studies put him way ahead of the average first year student in the ninja academy. When Sarutobi tested his knowledge he told Naruto that he could either skip a few grades or go through the academy regularly. In which he choose regularly so he could try to make friends and not be looked at as some kind of prodigy, after all deception is a ninjas greatest strength. Sarutobi was once again surprised at how mature Naruto was when handling that situation so he happily enlisted Naruto into the academy._

_Flashback end_

He was pulled from his thoughts as the academy finally came into view. Pulling out the piece of paper that his ji-chan gave to him he read it and headed to his classroom. Passing through the gates of the schoolyard he couldn't help but feel a little down seeing kids being told "good luck" or "see you later's"

by their parents. He completely stopped sometime during his envious thinking. He was startled by a comforting hand on his shoulder. Turning to see who it was he was met with the sight of the Sandaime. The Sandaime smiled and said. "Hello Naruto-kun. Are you ready to start your path to becoming a ninja of Konoha?"

Naruto in turn smiled at him and said. "Of course ji-chan! I know I'm ready to start the academy, with all the training I've been doing I better be...hehe." Naruto said while rubbing the back of his neck and grinning.

After hearing that the Sandaime let out a booming laugh which caught the attention of many of the surrounding people. After collecting himself he said. "Well Naruto-kun I believe you are more than ready to join the academy."

"Yea I even brought along a few of my books just in case my sensei goes over things that I already know."

"Good but I think that you mostly be getting to know how the academy works today. Come lets get you to your class then it should be about time for me to make my announcement." Sarutobi said and began their trek inside.

On the way Sarutobi and Naruto could hear the parents of children telling them to stay away from him because he is a bad. Some were even going as far to question the Hokage's thinking and saying that he shouldn't even be allowed to be a ninja. Looking through the corner of his eye the Sandaime could see that the words of the people were deeply affecting Naruto so he gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. Feeling the squeeze Naruto knew that the Sandaime had seen his discomfort and immediately forced a smile to show that he was fine. That smile did little to dissuade the Sandaime for he knew that Naruto was just doing it to make him feel better. After a little more walking they arrived at the door to Naruto's class. Walking in they walked up to the sensei to check in.

"Ah Iruka looks like you have been here for awhile?" Sarutobi said.

"Ah Hokage-sama good to see you and hai I've been here since before the first student arrived." Iruka said.

While they were greeting each other Naruto took the time to look around the room and observe his fellow classmates. He could see a few people who were from the ninja clans. One was sleeping with his head on the desk that he identified as a Nara, next to him was a rather thick looking kid who was eating chips who he knew was an Akimichi. Looking around he came across a feral looking boy with fang tattoos on his cheeks and immediately knew he was an Inuzuka. Next to the Inuzuka was a blue haired girl with pale white pupil-less eyes and could tell she was from the Hyuuga clan. A few rows back he could see a boy with black hair and round glasses sitting by himself and thought he was an Aburame since not many would sit next to him due to the Kikai bugs that inhabited their bodies. He also caught the only other blonde in the class and knew she was a Yamanaka since they were the only other blondes in the village, she was sitting next to a pink haired girl and both were sitting near a black haired boy sitting in the front row. Looking at him Naruto could tell that he was and Uchiha since he had black hair and onyx eyes that every clan member seemed to have. His observing was cut short when he heard the Sandaime's voice.

"Naruto-kun this is your sensei Iruka Umino. Why don't you introduce yourself." Sarutobi said gesturing to Iruka.

"Hai. Hello Iruka-sensei it's nice to meet you my name is Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said and at the end did a small bow.

"Hello Uzumaki-san nice to meet you too." Iruka said unsure of how to greet the demon child. Though he couldn't quite keep a small bit of malice into his tone. Which didn't go unnoticed by Naruto and the Sandaime.

"Why don't you find yourself a seat Naruto-kun so I may make my announcement." Sarutobi said.

"Hai" Naruto said giving the Sandaime a hug before going to find a seat. Walking through up the stairs he heads towards the back where he saw an open seat next to the Aburame he spotted earlier. Walking up to the boy he says. "Excuse me is this seat taken?"

The boy looks at him and replies with a simple "No." Taking the seat he decides to try and make a friend so he introduces himself to him. "Hi my name is Naruto Uzumaki what is yours?" holding out his hand to shake.

"Shino, Shino Aburame." Shino said as he took the hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you Shino. I hope we can become friends." Shino cocked his eyebrow at that and replied.

"Your not afraid of me?" now it was Naruto's turn to cock an eyebrow.

"Why? Should I?"

"Most people are afraid of my clan and myself because of our Kikai bugs."

"Naw, I'm not afraid of your bugs I actually think that they are a really effective weapon. You could send your bugs at an unsuspecting target and drain their chakra without even moving a muscle. The less effort that needs to be exerted the better because you may never know what might happen in the ninja world, though if I were you I wouldn't become completely dependent on them because if someone wasn't able to use chakra your bugs would be useless." Naruto said. Shino was deeply impressed with the answer that he received and that he found someone his own age who didn't scorn him or think he was weird due to his bugs.

"I thank you for your advice, and I would like it if we became friends." Shino says pushing his glasses up.

"Sure no problem, I don't have many friends our age. Come to think of it you are my only friend that is the same age as myself." Shino just nodded and both turned to the front of the class when the Sandaime started to speak.

The Sandaime's announcement was all about how they were implementing a change in how class worked. The change would go up until the midway through the grades since those classes were already to used to what they were doing. Most of the things that the Hokage said were pretty boring sometime during the lecture Naruto got so bored that he ended up bringing a book out and reading it. What caught his attention was the changes that had to do with what they were learning about.

During the first year they would go over the history of Konoha, the ninja clans, and the basics of chakra. After that the next 3 years would focus mainly on taijutsu and chakra control. During these 3 years they would would read up on the taijutsu style that they were told suited them best from a taijutsu specialist who would be assisting the class from time to time. The following 2 yeas would be on genjutsu they would bring in a genjutsu specialist who would explain the theory and uses of genjutsu, they would then be taught some D-rank genjutsu's and learn how to create their own genjutsu. The next 3 years would focus on ninjutsu going from E-rank to D-rank jutsu's. Another specialist would be brought in to show them how to perform the handseals, and teach a few jutsu.

The biggest change that the Sandaime was all for was during the last year of the academy which would focus on team work, and practicing the jutsu's that they learned. Instead of having new gennin who graduated do D-rank missions they would immediately go onto C-rank missions which would help the village. The students would be paired up onto groups of four and the teacher would make one of the students the captain of the squad. The teams would be paired up for weak before they would switch the captain to another student in the squad, when all the students have been captain of that squad the teacher would than mix up the teams again. Doing it this way teams would have experience working with each other and make some money while clearing up the other missions for more experienced ninja. This way would also insure that many more academy students would graduate effectively increasing the ninja corps. Further increasing the power and revenue that Konoha had.

After the Hokage's extensive speech he left the room with a few heartwarming words. Iruka than took attendance and the class began with everyone introducing themselves. The class went by with out problems since they were mostly reading out of a history book. Since Naruto knew all the things in the book he pulled out his book on legendary items. The day went by with Naruto reading his book and the class reading their history, and so Naruto's journey began.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Academy grad is at 16 years old. I might be taking stuff from other animes but this is not a crossover. Definitely an AU story he will be traveling for around 10 years with people he meets Suggestions always welcome. Strong, Observant, Intelligent & Mature Naruto.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO AND OTHER CHARACTERS I AM TAKING FROM ANIMES AND GAMES:(....**

6 months later...

It has been 6 months since the academy started to Naruto was definitely regretting his choice of not skipping grades. During class while the other kids would follow along with Iruka, Naruto would be reading his own books. He even had to change around his training schedule. He would do his usual workouts after school got out. He would do his studying right after breakfast and during the academy. He was always seen with his face in a book just like a certain silver haired one eyed ninja. His weights had increased over the six months he had gone up another 5 pounds on each limb and another 10 pounds on his waist totaling 100 pounds.

Over the months his skills hadn't changed much. His sealing skills stayed the same except for the fact that he could now make a medium sized storage seal. He still hadn't begun a taijutsu style yet but he continued to work on his endurance, speed, and power. His genjutsu was still non-existent but since his chakra control was still not up to par he couldn't cast any. Kenjutsu was beginning to become a problem for him since he had yet to decide what what kind of blade to use. His ninjutsu was pretty good for a 6 year old he could perform the _Henge no jutsu_, _Kawarimi no jutsu_, _Nawanuke no jutsu_,_ Kakuremino no jutsu_, and _Bunshin no jutsu_. He had even learned the _Shunshin no jutsu_ after talking the Sandaime into teaching it to him to get to and from his home without running into problems. Although he was could perform the jutsu he was far from mastering them it still took him to long to complete the handseals. His kunai and shuriken skills also increased he could now hit a target 10 out of 10 times, he was now trying to learn how to change the angle of a projectile by throwing another projectile at it. So far he was unsuccessful.

During these 6 months Naruto and Shino became even better friends. Naruto would spend time helping Shino find bugs for his hive during lunch. Naruto and Shino also became good friends with Shikamaru when he spotted them playing a game of shogi. He found out first hand the genius that was Shikamaru when they had a match, so far the score is 32-31 Shikamaru in the lead. As a result of them becoming friends with Shikamaru they also became friends with Chouji.

Somehow Naruto came up with the idea that if they could play pranks on people they would be working on their stealth, strategy, and teamwork skills. Though his friends got a feeling that Naruto just wanted to a good laugh. During one of their pranks they ran across Kiba who said that he wanted to help them out. After a while they also became good friends with him.

* * *

Hokage's office...

The Sandaime had just received a letter from the Fire Daimyo concerning their annual meeting to discuss problems and funding. Looking at the date on the letter Sarutobi sees that the meeting is a week away. Deciding to head out tomorrow since the trip to the capitol is about a 3 day travel walking. Making preparations for the trip he calls Shoki into the room and asks her to take care of all the details. He had a person that he thought would benefit from this trip in mind.

Walking out of the office after relaying the plans to Shoki he makes his way through the streets heading toward the ninja academy. During his walk he was trying to think of problems that had arose in the village. Through his thoughts he found no major problems except for the situation concerning Naruto but he couldn't think of a way that he or the Daimyo could mend this problem. He stopped his thinking as the academy gates came into view. Making his way through the schoolyard he came upon the entrance to the building.

As he strode through the double doors of the academy he was greeted by a random chunin who was walking down the hall with a stack of papers. Making his way to where he knew Naruto was he came upon the door. Knocking, he could hear the ruckus that the class was making hearing the teacher tell them sit down and shut up. The door opened to reveal a scar nosed chunin. "Hokage-sama what can I do for you?" Iruka said.

"I'm just here to pick up one of your students." Sarutobi said while walking into the classroom.

"Class quiet down Hokage-sama is here so behave yourselves." Sarutobi chuckled a little at the way the children all quieted down.

"No need for that this will be quick." Looking around the room for Naruto he found him in the back of the room playing a game of shogi with a Nara boy and was being observed by an Aburame, Akimichi & Inuzuka boy. "Naruto-kun is playing shogi a part of the lesson plan for your class?" Sarutobi said while trying to get a rise out of him.

Naruto just waved him off like he was someone unimportant while moving one of his pieces. Sarutobi developed a sweatdrop on the back of his head. He was about to say something when Iruka beat him to it. "NARUTO!!! Pay attention the Hokage is speaking to you. AND PUT THE DAMN SHOGI BOARD AWAY THIS IS THE 3RD TIME THIS WEEK!"

"Oh why didn't you say something then ji-chan?" Naruto said turning his head toward the Hokage. Many of the kids in his class looked at him in surprise as he called the leader of the village that.

"NARUTO DON'T BE SO DISRESPECTFUL!!! Sorry Hokage-sama he doesn't know any better."

"No need he's been calling me that since he learned how to talk. So Naruto-kun are you gonna listen now or should I wait until you finish your "oh-so-important" shogi match against your friend...hmm"

"Naw I'm listening so what'cha want?"

"Well I was planning on bringing you along with me to the capitol to meet the Daimyo but..." Sarutobi said drawing out the but. "Since your so busy with your game maybe I can find someone else with me." He said with his hand on his chin getting in the classic thinking pose.

"When do we leave?" Naruto said liking the idea of getting out of the boring academy for a little while. Little did he know his life would make a drastic change during the trip.

"We head out tomorrow morning I just came to pick you up so we could get all your things together so you don't forget anything."

"Alright, can you give me a few I gotta finish this game that way if I win we'll be tied up." Naruto said turning back to his game. The Hokage just sighed and took a seat at Iruka's desk.

A few minutes later the game was over. Shikamaru just muttered "troublesome blonde" while laying his head down. Naruto got out of his seat and made sure he had all his things. After sealing the game board back into his scroll he said his goodbyes and headed down towards the Hokage.

"Alright lets go ji-chan." The Hokage stood up and placed a hand on his head and _Shunshin'ed_ to his office.

"Well now that we got you out of there why don't you go and grab all the things that you think you might need." Naruto just nodded and headed out of the office.

* * *

On his way towards his small apartment he was thinking about what he should bring along. He started to list things in his head. _"Well I know I need to pack a couple pairs of clothes...might as well bring the scrolls with all my books so I don't get bored...kunai and shuriken are a must...what else should I bring...you know what I'm just gonna grab all the scrolls that have."_ After looking around to see where he was he noticed he was a block from his home.

Upon reaching his apartment he opened the door and headed straight towards his room. Making sure his surroundings were secure he pulled up a loose floor board at the foot of his bed. Under the floor board were all of Naruto's most important things sealed into scrolls. Grabbing all of them and setting them on the bed he placed the board back in place. The reason he did this was to insure that if his house was ever broken into the intruder/s would not be able to take them.

Heading towards his closet he opens it and pulls out the backpack that he used whenever he felt like pranking someone. Though Naruto was mature for his age even he needed a good laugh every now and then to brighten up his life. Thats how he got into the pranking business, being so isolated as he was it was hard to keep an upbeat attitude especially when people glare and say things behind your back while walking down the street.

Emptying the previous contents out of the bag he headed back to his bed with the bag in hand. Deciding to check his scrolls to make sure nothing was missing he set about his task. After an hour of sealing and unsealing his things he had finally confirmed that nothing was missing so he placed the scrolls in his bag.

Looking at the clock on his nightstand he sees its still to early for dinner, thinking of the things he can do he decides to just go for a walk around the village. As he walks his mind is in a far off place so he just lets his feet guide him. After a while of walking he takes in his surroundings and sees that he is at the park near the center of the village.

Taking another look he sees that the swings are empty walking over he takes a seat on one of them. He just sat there he didn't know why but he did. He started thinking of which kind of blade he would be using thinking that a katana might be good because if he learned how to use handseals with one hand he would be able to use jutsu while wielding his sword. Broken from his thoughts as he hears yelling and crying he looks for the cause of the commotion. Spotting it as a group of 4 boys a year or to older than himself picking on a blonde haired girl and a pink haired girl behind her. He heads over to end it before something bad happens.

As he approached the boys the leader took a step forwards to get in the girls face. The leader raised his fist and was bringing it down when his fist was caught. Turning to see the person that caught his fist he was met with Naruto's cold stare. "Why are you guys picking on these girls?" Naruto said still holding onto the boys hand.

"None of your business so get lost!!" the older boy says. Feeling confident that they could beat the blonde down.

"No so what is the problem here?" he said in a firm tone.

"We were just teaching these little girls that kunoichi are worthless compared to shinobi."

"Apparently you've never heard of Tsunade of the Sannin. Whose strength and skill are kage-level. Also the worlds best medic." letting go of the boys hand.

"So that don't mean that these little girls are like her so get lost and let us handle our business or we'll beat you down to." The older boy says motioning for his buddies to get ready to jump Naruto. The girls have yet to say a word to frightened to even move. They looked at each other and wondered if the blonde boy in front of them was gonna be alright.

Sighing Naruto replies in a bored and almost pitying tone. "Well I guess it can't be helped I'll just have to stop you guys from hurting them." he then drives a fist into the leaders stomach and the boy immediately drops to the ground wheezing. Looking down at the boy Naruto knows that he won't get up and looks towards the boys friends. Looking at each of them he says. "Pick up your friend and leave and never pick on these girls again."

One of the braver boys steps forward and says "Yea right you can't take all of us on at once little boy." hearing this his friends get brave also and begin to advance on him. Naruto just sighs and says "Fine then we'll do this the hard way I was willing to let you guys go but now I'm going to end this." Naruto ran forward and reach into his pouch and grabbed 2 shock tags and placed one on the boy that charged him first.

After the tag was placed on him Naruto gets behind him and heads for the other two. Reaching the first boy he draws back a fist and crouches low preparing for an upper cut. Rising his fist makes contact and the boy is hit square in the jaw knocking him out instantly. The last boy though that he had an opening after Naruto hit his friend and dashed at him with his right hand cocked back. Naruto sensing him rushing waits until the boy throws his fist forward and dodges into the boys guard punches the boys sternum.

Spinning on his heel to get around the boy he pushes him in the back causing the boy to stumble forward. Watching as the 2 remaining boys with the shock tags on them regroup they look at the at each other and are about to charge when they hear Naruto speak. "I would leave right now if I were you I have placed a shock tag on both you one handsign and you will be electrocuted."

Looking at each other they laugh and say "Yea right how can you have shock tags they don't sell those to you unless your a ninja...you're all talk I don't believe you." the boys look at each other again and nod and charge. Naruto seeing this sighs and makes the ram sign and says "Kai." Instantly the boys are shocked and drop to the ground having seen enough Naruto walks up to them and removes the tags ending their writhing.

Looking to the leader of the boys who is just now getting up he says "Grab your friends and leave now never pick on these girls again." the leader just nods and grabs his friends and leaves.

Looking back at the girls who were still huddled up with their backs to a tree he walks over "Are you two okay?" seeing the blonde girl nod he turns around to leave when he hears a voice. Not quite catching what was said he turns around. "Come again?"

"I said thank you for helping us. My name is Ino, Ino Yamanaka and this is my friend Sakura Haruno." the blonde girl now known as Ino says.

"Your welcome. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. You and your friend should get home its getting late your parents might be worried."

"Thank you Naruto-kun." The two girls say and Naruto just nods and walked away. But what he didn't know was that the event that took place and his face and name would now be burned into Ino and Sakura's memory.

After he left the girls he headed straight home not wanting to run into any problems. Entering his apartment he went about his nightly routine before hopping into bed to fall into a dreamless sleep.

_

* * *

_

Henge no jutsu

: Transformation Technique

_Kawarimi no jutsu_: Substitution Technique

_Nawanuke no jutsu_: Rope Escape Technique

_Kakuremino no jutsu_: Cloak of Invisibility Technique

_Bunshin no jutsu_: Clone Technique

_Shunshin no jutsu_: Body Flicker Technique


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Academy grad is at 16 years old. I might be taking stuff from other animes but this is not a crossover. Definitely an AU story he will be traveling for around 10 years with people he meets Suggestions always welcome. Strong, Observant, Intelligent & Mature Naruto.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO AND OTHER CHARACTERS I AM TAKING FROM ANIMES AND GAMES:(....**

Morning the Next Day...

Naruto was woken up by his blaring alarm clock. Looking at the time he sees it's 6:30 AM. Getting up out of bed he heads to the bathroom. Turning on the shower to let the water warm up he gets his toothbrush and puts toothpaste on it. Shoving it into his mouth he checks the water with his hand before hopping in brushing his teeth while letting the water hit him. Finishing his brushing he soaps up and shampoos his hair.

Getting out of the shower the he heads to his dresser and pulls out an orange shirt, a fresh pair of boxers, and his overalls. Throwing on his clothes he heads to the kitchen for a quick breakfast. Grabbing a cup of instant ramen he starts to boil water. When the water was done boiling he poured it into the cup. After the waiting the excruciating 3 minutes it took for the ramen to finish. Tearing into the ramen with gusto he finished it in and instant.

Throwing the foam cup into the garbage he checks the time and notices its almost 7 o'clock. _"Hmm...ji-chan said that we would be leaving at 8...I should probably head over to the tower and wait with him."_ Heading to his bedroom he sees the bag filled with the many scrolls and items that he was bringing with him. Swinging the pack onto his shoulders he makes sure to lock all the windows and door. After his little security check he forms the ram seal he does a generic _shunshin_ to get to the Hokage's office.

Hokage's office...

Sarutobi was going over all the preparations for the trip to the capital of fire country. Speaking to his secretary and asking if she took care of all the non-important paperwork and arrangements for his absence.

He sat in his chair when he had Shoki send for Shibi Aburame and Shikaku Nara. He choose these two men to be in charge due to their intellect. They were capable of thinking outside the box and were strategic genius's when the time arose. They were also the most logical when difficult decisions were brought up in council meetings. Sarutobi also trusted these two because they have always shown that that they were loyal to the village and and himself, they did not trust Danzo and felt that the civilian portion of the council had to much power for their own good.

Pulling out his pipe he packed a bit of tobacco into it and lit it. Taking relaxing drags he feels himself calming down. Feeling a chakra signature approach he prepares himself. Seeing a poof of smoke appear and Naruto stepping out of he relaxes.

"Nice to see you Naruto-kun." He greeted the boy

"Mornin' ji-chan! Just thought it would be easier to wait here with you instead of at my apartment." Naruto replied taking his pack off and sitting down on the couch near the wall.

"Thats fine. I'm assuming that you are all packed and ready to go then, hmm?"

"Yup sure am I sealed all my things in scrolls and put them in my bag." he said as he went to the Hokage's bookshelf to look for something to do while he waited.

"Well I'm just making some last minute preparations so just sit and relax." Sarutobi said just as Naruto found a book that caught his eye. Pulling the book off the shelf Naruto returns to the couch and opens the book. The Hokage looked at the title to see which book that the boy had started to read and saw that it was a book written by the Nidaime about his sword the Raijin. He knew that the book didn't tell exactly how to make the sword but if someone who could read between the lines they would be able to replicate it. Hearing a knock on the door he gives a soft "Enter".

"Hokage-sama Shikaku-san and Shibi-san are here." Shoki said as she gestured to the two shinobi clan heads.

"Thank you Shoki. Please come in Shibi-san, Shikaku-san." as Shoki closed the door after the two clan heads entered.

"To what do we owe the pleasure Hokage-sama?" Shibi said. Both the men had noticed Naruto reading a book on the couch. They were one of the few people in the village that knew he was just a little boy who contained a vile beast and trusted the Yondaime's skill enough that they knew the demon couldn't force its way out without killing itself along with the boy.

"I have something important that concerns the two of you." They both looked at Naruto and the Hokage got what they thinking.

"Ah its not a secret and Naruto-kun is coming with me so he is fine where he is." nodding the two of them stood in front of him.

"As you know I will be leaving the village for a little while to meet with Fire countries Daimyo." Sarutobi said and paused while he took another drag from his pipe. "While I'm gone I have decided that I will leave you two in charge." He chuckled as he saw both men raise their eyebrows and thought. _"Leave it to the laziest person and most stoic man in Konoha to only raise their eyebrows at such a comment."_

"Why us Hokage-sama?" Shikaku said after both men had recollected themselves.

"Simple I don't trust the council while I'm gone." Seeing the looks on their faces he decided to elaborate. "While I trust some of you on the council I know that many of its members some who are shinobi are in the pocket of Danzo, Koharu and the Uchiha. While a few are like yourselves which include the Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Hyuuga, and even Homura and the head of the Hospital and can be trusted." He finished.

"I see I will do my best while you are gone Hokage-sama." Shibi said with a bow.

"Same here it would be too troublesome if Danzo and the Uchiha had control." Shikaku said with a nod.

"Very well I will put my trust in you while I'm gone. Thank you, you may leave."

"Alright Naruto-kun that was the last of my business we should head to the gates. ANBU!" Sarutobi called. When he said this four clouds of smoke appeared and bowed.

"Hokage-sama?" The leader of the group said. He had gravity defying silver hair and wore a dog mask.

"Yes you and your squad will be accompanying myself and Naruto-kun to the capital." Sarutobi gestured to Naruto on the couch. "We leave in 30 minutes meet at the main gate." The four disappeared to prepare for their mission.

Grabbing his robe and hat Sarutobi checked to make sure he had everything he needed. Opening one of his drawers of his desk he pulled out an orange book with a woman wrapped in a towel and kissing a man. _"Ah can't forget about you now can I"_ he giggled as he thought about getting some much needed reading in without the distraction of paperwork. Naruto looked at him like he was crazy hearing a grown man giggle at a little orange book was kinda weird. He looked at the cover and title and read "Icha Icha Paradise" and thought that he would look into the book sometime later to see what could elicit such a reaction from the Hokage.

* * *

30 minutes later...

The Hokage, Naruto and the four ANBU were on the road. Naruto had asked the Hokage if he could continue reading the book about the Raijin. The Hokage said it was fine so here he was on the road with his face in the book. He would occasionally sneak glances at the ANBU guards.

One was a woman who had long purple hair and wore a cat mask. She was wearing the standard ANBU uniform except none of the wore four wore the cloak. She had a plain katana across her back instead of the standard ninjato with the hilt on her right shoulder.

The one behind him was a black haired man. His hair reached to his shoulder and was kind of wavy. He wore a rat mask. He had a pair of swords that looked like hooks because the tip rounded at the end and came 4 or so inches back over the dull side of the blade.

The last one wore a horse mask. His black hair was tied high ponytail that was rather short. He wore the standard ANBU gear also. On his back strapped in a backward fashion was a ninjato the hilt was pointed down towards his right hip.

The trip on the way to the capital was rather uneventful except for a little incident that occurred on the second day. A group of 10 bandits lead by a rather large man wielding a giant battle Axe that looked to be bigger than Naruto was proclaimed that he was the legendary bandit king. He had stated that he wanted all of their valuables or they would kill them. The battle was rather anticlimactic the Hokage made one hand sign and the before the bandits even knew what happened eight of them fell to the floor dead. 'Horse' and 'Rat' had taken care of them with ease. Naruto was amazed because he didn't catch them move at all. He simply thought _"These guys are the real deal..."_ the leader of the group was scared after his men were killed and started to run when a kunai was embedded into his skull while the last bandit was stabbed through the heart by 'Horse's' ninjato.

The 'Dog' masked ANBU told his group to check the corpses for anything valuable and then burn the corpses. The Hokage had said to Naruto that if he found anything interesting that he could keep it. He had searched three corpses including the leaders and found 4 sacks of ryo that totaled about 17,000 ryo. Along with the money he found a couple of swords that were of good quality. But the thing that he found on the leader's body that had interested him was a scroll of Suiton jutsu that held the _Kirigakure no jutsu_ and _Mizu bunshin no jutsu_ he had sealed all the items into a scroll. He had also found a scroll that held the location of the camp that they had set up. He had showed the Hokage the scroll with the camps location and got a pat on the head. He called both 'Horse' and 'Rat' and gave them the scroll and said to destroy the camp and meet them at the capital when they were finished. After they had searched all the corpses they burned them. Most of the bodies had mostly money a few more had jutsu scrolls but other than money and weapons that was all. The jutsu scrolls contained basic Katon & Suiton jutsu that the ANBU already knew so they had handed the scrolls to Naruto. Apparently the bandits didn't know how to use chakra so they had not learned the jutsu on the scrolls that they had.

After the little battle --if you could call it that-- Sarutobi decided to make camp. Rat and Horse immediately left to take care of the bandit camp. Sarutobi pulled out his scroll with a tent and had Naruto help set it up since they would share the tent. After the tent was set up Naruto sat down near a tree and pulled out the scrolls that the ANBU given to him. The scroll listed two Katon jutsu _Housenka no jutsu_ which shot out multiple fireballs, _Houkakasui_ which shot a small stream of fire. The Suiton scroll held only one jutsu. It was the _Teppodama_. Spending a few minutes looking over the three scrolls Naruto decided to learn the fire stream jutsu since it look the easiest. Putting the two Suiton scrolls in his pack he began to memorize the handseals for the jutsu.

After learning handseals and practicing for ten minutes so he didn't mess up the seals he moved away from the camp to try it. Sarutobi saw this and decided to follow about five feet away from camp he saw Naruto stop. Naruto practiced the seals needed for the jutsu a few more times before deciding to try it. He completed the seals at a slow pace so as not to screw up and called out the jutsu. A stream of fire burst forth from his mouth. He stopped the jutsu when he heard clapping. Turning his head he was met with the sight of a smiling Sarutobi and the ANBU who had felt the little chakra spike.

"Very good Naruto-kun I see that you got the jutsu and on your first attempt I might add." Sarutobi said walking over to Naruto to ruffle his hair.

"Yup that one was easy it only had a few handseals and used little chakra about the amount of chakra it would take for five bunshin I think." Naruto grinned at getting a new jutsu.

"Still though getting a jutsu right on the first try is very hard. But next time tell one of us when you go to practice a jutsu just in case you do something wrong and hurt yourself." Sarutobi said and received a nod and 'hai' from the 6 1/2 year old. "Who knows maybe one of the ANBU might teach you something." Naruto looked at the ANBU with a puppy dog look

'Cat' who thought _"Kawaii_" caved and said. "Why don't I teach you how to wield those weapons you picked up from those bandits." The Hokage chuckled at the fact that she fell for his puppy dog look. While 'Dog' snickered at her.

Naruto ran back to his pack and unsealed the weapons and grabbed the sword. He ran back to the group and proceeded to be taught how to hold the sword. 'Cat' had taught him the basic sword stance and had him doing a bunch of slashes to get him used to the feel of the sword. He struggled at first because the length of the sword was as tall as him standing.

The last day of the trip went by without incident. They had arrived at the walls of the capital pretty fast. After the routine check in at the gate they were allowed entrance. Sarutobi also said to the guards that two of his ANBU would be arriving later as they were dealing with a bandit problem in the area. The guards nodded and asked what they looked like and Sarutobi pointed to the two with him and told them they had the same clothing but one wore a rat mask while the other wore a horse mask. Writing the description down the guard said that they would inform the two of his arrival and send them to him.

Sarutobi nodded and lead the group towards the Daimyo's palace. He had to grab Naruto's hand so as not to lose track of him in the crowded streets. After the daunting task of walking through all the people they arrived at the gates to the palace. Walking up to the gate the guards said

"Halt name and reason for being here." the guard on the left said

"Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hokage of Konoha, here for my meeting with the Daimyo. These are two of my guards two more will be here after they take care the bandit camp a day or two away from here. This boy here is my guest Naruto Uzumaki." the guards looked them over and opened the gate. When the guard on the right spoke.

"I will lead you to the meeting chamber where Nobunaga-sama will meet you." the guard said as he led them through the main hall to the meeting chamber. Naruto was astounded by the many items around that were around the palace. When they reached the meeting room they were told to wait for the Daimyo to arrive. Sarutobi had sat down on one of the two couches in the center of the room. Naruto had spent his time looking around the room at all the paintings and statues.

Minutes after they had arrived the doors were opened to reveal the Daimyo and his 12 Ninja Guardians. Naruto walked back over to the Hokage who was now standing with 'Dog' and 'Cat' on his side. Sarutobi bowed to the Daimyo which in turn was followed by Naruto and his guards.

"So good to see you Sarutobi-dono." the Daimyo said after he and his guards returned the bow with one of their own. "I would have thought that you would have more guards?" questioned the Daimyo.

"Ah yes of course Nobunaga-dono...I do but along the way we ran into some bandits and Naruto-kun here" Sarutobi gestured as he brought Naruto to his side. "Found a scroll with the camps location so I decided to send my other two ANBU to deal with it so the bandits would not be able to cause future problems for the people of Hi no kuni."

"Thank you for taking care of that than. I should also be thanking young Naruto for finding the scroll since those bandits have been causing problems in one the villages to the east of here." Nobunaga said as he smiled down at Naruto and ruffled his hair. Naruto smiled back at him and blushed from the praise. Everyone chuckled at his blush which made him blush harder.

"You must be tired from your trip here how about we hold off on our little meeting until tomorrow. I am sure that young Naruto would like to see the city." Nobunaga said while Naruto nodded.

"Ah of course I was planning on showing him around after our meeting but since we are holding off on that until tomorrow I will show him around while we find a place to stay." Sarutobi said.

"Yes let me write you a voucher for one of the hotels near the palace just show them the note and they will put the tab on me." said Nobunaga as he was scribbling the note on a piece of paper. He handed them the note and said. "I will see you tomorrow at the meeting." as he got up and bowed and left the room.

One of his guards stayed to guide them out. This guard caught the attention of the Hokage. Walking over to the guard Sarutobi said. "Asuma my son how are you doing?"

"I'm doing good how about yourself Pops." Asuma replied as he led the group out.

"Good. I'm doing well just getting older as you can see. Konohamaru is getting bigger now that he is 2 years old. Been causing as many problems for me as Naruto-kun has." they both chuckled at the thought of their grandson/nephew.

"Ah almost forgot about you 'Ruto." Naruto made a face at the pet that Asuma had given him when he was 4 before he left to join the guardians.

"Good to see you to Smokey." Naruto said using his nickname for Asuma. Everyone chuckled when they heard Asuma's pet name They had reached the door to the gates after Naruto replied. Opening the door they said their goodbyes and left the palace.

It took them a good half hour to find the hotel the Daimyo was paying for them to stay at. Upon seeing the voucher that they showed the clerk they were immediately showed to their rooms. Sarutobi and Naruto would share a room while the four ANBU would share the other. Two would guard the door while the other two slept and they would switch midway through the night.

"Ne ji-chan can we go out to eat I'm hungry?" as if to emphasize his statement Naruto's stomach growled.

"Hahaha...alright we'll go get something to eat and then we'll look around the city." Sarutobi said getting into causal robes instead of wearing the Hokage robes. Naruto looked through his bag and took the scroll with his money, and the scroll with the weapons he got from the bandits so he could sell them.

When the old man was ready Sarutobi told both ANBU that they were going to out to eat and were welcome to come along. Both ANBU nodded and followed after the two. They spent many minutes trying to find a place that Naruto wanted to eat at. Eventually they ended up at a ramen stand.

After their meal Naruto lead Sarutobi to many shops and vendors. They had stopped at a clothing store that Naruto wanted to go to so he could buy a new outfit or two. They had spent 30 minutes rummaging through the goods that the store had to offer. Naruto ended up picking out a red long sleeve pull over hoody with the kanji for fire on both the front and back and grabbed 3 more. He picked out a pair of black shorts and got 3 also. He also picked out 5 pairs of pants 1 in dark green, 2 in black, and 2 in red. He picked out 5 shirts to match the colors of the pants.

When he went up to the counter when something behind the counter caught his eye. It was a backpack. It was smaller than the one he already had but this on had a a special feature. A plastic pouch that could be filled with liquid with a tube running from it out to the shoulder strap so a person could drink straight from the pouch. He placed his stuff on the counter and asked. "Excuse me, how much is that pack on the wall with the tube?" this caught the attention of Sarutobi and the ANBU who thought it was nothing special it looked like an ordinary pack.

"Oh that is one of my own creations its only 200 ryo. Do you like it?" the clerk said. He hadn't sold any of them people thought it was a waste of money.

"I would like to purchase one if I may. I think that pack is a great invention it makes traveling much easier as you don't have to worry about a water source as long as you have the pouch filled with water." Naruto said. Sarutobi and the ANBU after hearing his reason were thinking of buying one themselves. The clerk beamed at having someone call his creation a great idea and spoke.

"I like you young man you are the first to every want one...many call it a waste or stupid, so for you I will throw in the bag for free while you pay for the clothes." the clerk pulled the bag of the wall and placed it on the counter.

"Thank you for your generous offer clerk-san." He was interrupted by the clerk

"Ah call me Kasher. May I know the name of my customer?" holding his hand out to shake with the boy.

"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." grabbing his hand to shake.

"Naruto-san is there anything else that you need." Naruto shook his head before replying.

"Actually could I get another one of those bags just in case this one breaks or something happens to it."

Kasher nodded and placed another bag on the counter.

"Alright lets total this up and see how much it costs." the man looked at the items and totaled up the amount. "That would be 1,275 ryo Naruto-kun." Naruto pulled out his scroll and unsealed a bag and counted out 1,500 ryo. Kasher told him he gave to much and Naruto replied "Keep it, it is for your generosity, and I will be coming back if I ever need more of these bags. I hope that you will have new creations for me to buy." Kasher laughed and told him he would work on it. Gathering his things he put them into his new bag. And once again thanked Kasher and headed to the door.

"Naruto-kun would you wait at the door for me I have to talk to Kasher-san here." Naruto nodded and proceeded to wait by the door. "Kasher-san I was wondering if you would by any chance want to strike up a deal. You see I am the Hokage of Konoha and would like it if you could supply us with those bags of yours they are an interesting and useful invention. Of course we will compensate you for your work say 300 ryo for every bag which includes shipping?" Sarutobi asked.

"Sounds like a sound offer to me maybe when word gets out other villages will want to buy them also. I'll take you up on your offer, though it takes a day or two to make them I could hire some help and speed up the process." Kasher said.

"Good how about this you make as many as you can in a month and in a month from now you send me the amount and I will send you the payment. Sound good." Kasher nodded. "Could I also purchase one for myself at this moment?" Kasher nodded again and pulled another bag off the wall.

'Dog' and 'Cat' also stepped forward and asked for a pack for themselves and Kasher was happy to oblige as he found people who liked his creation. Pulling off 2 more packs he set them on the counter and said. "Together or separate?" he heard 'separate'. "Okay than that will be 200 ryo each." All three pulled out the amount and placed it on the counter. After counting the money Kasher said. "Pleasure doing business with you I will be working on the bags and will send a message at the end of the month." they said goodbye and left the shop.

After visiting many more shops and vendors Naruto had accumulated many items. Some useful some not so useful, but what can you say he was still a child who liked to have fun like a deck of cards and a white tiger mask that made him look like the two ANBU with him. In his bag sat some books that he picked up on the capital, books on tailoring, and some on gardening. He picked up a couple sketch pads so that he could draw out all of his ideas. In one of the vendors stalls he came across a beautiful looking fan. The fan was just a small personal fan used to cool a person off, but on the fan was a picture of a creating the moon. The vendor who sold the fan said that it was created a long time ago by someone who had seen the man actually create the moon. After hearing the story Naruto bought it due to his interest in legends and other stories of the sort. In his bag was also a flute and a book on how to play the flute with a few songs inside of it. It was getting dark and Naruto and Naruto was a few hundred ryo less heavy but he had wanted to go to one more place. The local blacksmith. He wanted to sell the weapons that he had because he had a feeling that they were tainted from being used by the bandits.

They asked around and found out that the best local blacksmith was named Murusame, and he had a shop on the east side of the city near the park. People said he liked it there because it was quiet and he could get his work done without interruption. So they headed toward his workshop. Arriving at the park they had found the one building with smoke coming out of it. Walking in they saw many weapons from throwing knives to giant Halberd's. They could here the sound of a hammer pounding on metal in the back of the shop. Naruto went over to the counter where a bell was and rang it. The pounding ceased and a man around 5'8'' stepped out covered in soot. He was well built from his work. He had black hair that was tied into a high ponytail that fell down to his shoulders. He walked up and said. "What can I do for you?" looking at the group who he found out was obviously ninja and a small boy. He was mildly surprised when the small boy answered his question.

"Ano sir would you perhaps be the blacksmith known as Murusame?" Murusame nods. "I was wondering if you would forge me something?" Naruto questions.

"What would that be young one?" Murusame replies.

"Well I would like a Katana and Wakizashi that would grow in tune with myself as I grow older. But I would also like that that you add five more inches onto the sheath of the Wakizashi that can be taken on and off." Everyone was looking at him a little weird after he said that.

"It's been awhile since I've had such a strange request. But I know how to do it but I got a question for you young one." Naruto nods. "What is it you plan to do with the blades that I create for you? And what are the extra five inches on the sheath for if I might ask?"

"Well first answer is that I will use them to protect people in need even if I don't know them personally." Murusame nods. "Second answer to your question is that I plan to do something very special to it." Naruto was planning on making the extra part of the sheath into something like the Raijin Murusame stares at him and then nods.

"Alright well I am gonna have to make you custom sheaths as well to deal with the growing of the blades and would have to get your measurements to make the size of the sword for you right now so come over here while I measure you." After the measurements Murusame said that the swords would be down in one weeks time. He also asked if there was anything else he could help with. Naruto says 'yes' and takes his pack off and searches for a something. He pulled out a scroll and unsealed the items in it. Out of the smoke came 5 katanas, A giant Axe, 3 Wakizashi, and 25 throwing knives. These were the weapons that he had pilfered of the bodies of the bandits.

"Ano how much could I get if I wanted to sell all these weapons?" Naruto said.

Murusame 'hmm's' and looks over the weapons with the eye of a weapons crafter and says. "I'll give you 6,500 ryo for all of them they aren't that great but average."

"Thats fine I wasn't going to use these weapons as I feel they are tainted with the blood of innocents so I felt either throw them away or sell them to a blacksmith such as yourself who could melt them down and work them into something else." Naruto says getting approving looks from the people around him.

"Very well let me move all this stuff back by the forge and I will count out the money for the weapons you just sold me." Gathering the weapons he made his way to the back leaving the group to wait. By the time Murusame came back into the front of the store Naruto was looking around again so he started to count out the 6,500 ryo for the boy. After counting the money he called Naruto over and gave him the money. Naruto came up to the counter with a book in hand. The on the art of forging and crafting weapons. "Could I also get this book I feel that I will need it sometime in the near future." Naruto said.

"Sure take it I'll let you have it for free since I'll be making your swords and because I wrote that book myself so tell me how you like it when you finish it." Murusame said.

"Alright thanks I guess I will see you in a week than goodbye." Naruto said as he left the shop with Sarutobi and the ANBU. It was dark out now so the Hokage and ANBU decided to make it faster they would _Shunshin_ to the hotel. It took a few _Shunshin's_ to get there because it was pretty far from the blacksmith's. They all went about their nightly routines and went to bed.

* * *

Morning the Next Day...

Naruto and Sarutobi woke up at 6 o'clock and went about their morning ritual. Sarutobi donned his Kage robes while Naruto decided to wear his new clothes. He wore a black shirt, his red hoody, and a black pair of pants. When he was fully clothed Naruto emptied his pack and began to seal the new items that he purchased yesterday into scrolls. When he was all done sealing everything he grabbed all his scrolls that he left in the room when they went out last night. After packing all his things in his bag he went into the bathroom and filled the pouch in his bag with water.

Sarutobi was waiting for Naruto as he went about his morning. He knew that he had a meeting in a couple hours so he waited for Naruto so they could get breakfast somewhere. Seeing the boy run into the bathroom with his bag and hears the water running and wonders what he could be doing. Naruto came out with a tube in his mouth and water running through the tube. He smiles as he forgot all about the new packs that they had bought just yesterday and that they seem to work just fine. He thought to himself that he made a great deal with Kasher and his ninja would be well equipped if they wanted to buy one from one of the stores in Konoha.

"Ji-chan it works! This Is really a great invention why haven't more people bought this thing it would make travel so much easier instead of carrying canteens you can get a full backpack with water." Naruto said taking another sip of water.

"I don't know but it is indeed a fine invention I am glad that I have struck a deal with Kasher-san so we could sell those to our ninja in Konoha. Come lets go get some breakfast and visit some more places." Sarutobi said.

The ANBU were all ready set to go they even had their packs on their backs. They headed out the hotel and searched for another place to eat at. They stopped at a little tea house in one of the allies near the main market place. They sat in a booth and waved the waitress over and ordered cinnamon buns and green tea. They see a few of the Daimyo's samurai sitting at a table in the center of the shop laughing and playing cards. Naruto gets up and heads toward the samurai to see what they are playing as they have caught his interest with all the laughing so he bows and asks.

"Excuse me samurai-san would you be willing to teach me how to play this game...it seems like it would be fun since you and your friends are laughing so much?" hearing this the samurai stop laughing and stare at him before resuming their laughing fit. The closest samurai to him says.

"Sure kid why not my buddies and I are playing a game called poker...this version of the game is called 5 card draw." As he dealt out everyones hands and told him what kind of hands you can get and which hand beats which. Naruto asks if he could sit out for awhile and watch to see how its played. After a few hands he believed he had the game understood. So he asked if he could join in now. "Alright kid lets see if you got it down we play with whatever we have money, items, other things so what'cha got to put up." Naruto pulls out about 500 ryo and places it in front of him.

"I only have money on me right now and I don't have many expensive things that would interest you guys so yea..." Naruto says rubbing the back of his head.

"Alright fellas looks like the boy is in the game deal'em out!" the samurai sitting on his left says. So the time in the tea house went by with lots of laughs and pots won. Naruto was so lucky that he won every hand that he stayed in to play. He had started out with only 500 ryo and ended up with 8,000 ryo a silver pocket watch and a silver ring with a beautiful yellow diamond on it that the samurai said he got off a bandit that he killed...when he heard Sarutobi call him.

"Ah sorry guys but ji-chan is calling me so I have to leave thank you for teaching me how to play and letting me play with you guys." He gathered his money into a pile and counted it into stacks of 1,000 ryo each. "Oh yea for helping me play samurai-san here you go." as he hands one stack of bills to the samurai that helped him. The other samurai were mumbling about 'lucky blonde gaki's' "Ah can't forget these." as he grabs the ring and places it on his finger ands sees that it is to big for his tiny finger so he stuffed it in his pocket with the pocket watch. He puts the 7,000 ryo in his pack and walks back to his table where he sees everyone had already eaten except for him.

"Ah sorry about that is it time to see the Daimyo already...I guess I got to caught up in that game." He said as he grabbed the bag of cinnamon buns and follows the Hokage out of the teahouse.

They walked to the palace and arrive at the gates soon after. The guards let them in this time without hassle. As they head to the same meeting room Naruto eats his cinnamon buns. The Daimyo arrived soon after and then the meeting started. The two talked about problems in the village and things that could be improved on with extra funding. When Naruto finished his buns he pulled out the scroll on Suiton jutsu that he snagged off of the bandit leader. He reads through and sees that the _Mizu Bunshin_ is just as easy as the _Houkakasui_ jutsu. So he calmly interrupted the old mens talk and said.

"Ano I was wondering if there was a place that I could go that had water near it so that I may try a jutsu that I have been studying." The two looked at him and nodded the Daimyo called forth Asuma since he knew the boy.

"Asuma why don't you show young Naruto to the courtyard where all my guards practice." The Daimyo said.

"And make sure he doesn't hurt himself or anyone else. I don't know what jutsu he plans on learning but he already knows several but he has one Katon jutsu that could cause damage."Asuma just nodded and led him to the courtyard at the middle of the palace. The courtyard was rather large probably an acre of land. It was mostly a grass field but there was a pond with koi fish and wooden dummy's and targets. He could see some of the Diamyo's samurai sparring and a little girl about his age playing near the pond.

Walking over to the pond he sits down and opens the scroll and rereads it making sure to memorize the handseals for it. After he read through it twice he set it down and practiced the order of the seals making sure to get it right. When he felt he that he had it he did the seals and called out _Mizu Bunshin no jutsu_ and a pillar of water formed into a human shape. Naruto inspected and thought it was okay until he heard a Asuma's voice.

"Almost 'Ruto but you messed up on some things 1.) the hair color isn't the same as yours it's a little paler 2.) your missing the Fire kanji on your back 3.) his whisker marks are missing that's pretty much it. You gotta remember the details in case you wanna switch with one in fight." Naruto nodded and dispelled the imperfect clone. He performed the jutsu again and it turned out he missed something again. It wasn't until the fourth try that he got it perfect. Asuma congratulated him and asked what other jutsu he knew so he told him. Asuma was impressed with what he new he could already graduate the academy so he decided to help him out.

"'Ruto what control exercises do you know?"

"Just the leaf floating one but I can add leaves on other parts of my body like hands and elbows." Asuma nodded.

"Alright well I'm gonna teach you a gennin level control exercise since you're gennin level already and chakra control is a must for every ninja because it helps you with jutsu among other things." Asuma said. Naruto nodded he knew that control was important but he hadn't gotten that far into the books on chakra control he was reading a book about kenjutsu last night since he was finally knew what kind of blade he would be using.

The pair walked over to one of the trees on the edge of the pond. "Okay here's what I want you to do 'Ruto I want you concentrate chakra to your feet and run up the side of the tree. Oh yea and mark the spot with a kunai so you can see your progress." Naruto looked at him and asked if if was possible his answer was Asuma walking up the tree and then hanging upside down on a thick branch. So Naruto began the exercise on his first try he got up 5 steps before he was blown off. "Too much chakra and you blow up the bark on the tree, too little and you slip right off, you need the amount in between." Asuma offered. So Naruto tried again and got 2 more steps up the tree. The day wore on with him trying to get to the top of the tree. The tree had multiple slash marks on it.

He was almost to the top when Nobunaga and Sarutobi walked into the courtyard just in time to see Naruto reach the top of the tree and collapse from exhaustion. So Sarutobi bid goodbye to everyone and thanked Asuma for watching him and headed to the hotel to rest for tomorrow's meeting. What Naruto didn't see was a little pair of Amethyst eyes watching from the other side of the pond. They belonged to the Daimyo's youngest daughter Akira. Akira had long pink hair tied into a ponytail that went to the middle of her shoulders. In her hair was a gold hairpiece.**(A/N: THINK LACUS CLYNE FROM GUNDAM SEED HAIRSTYLE.)** She had been watching the whole day ever since he had made the first _Mizu Bunshin_ and he had caught her attention he was her age and was already doing things that kids their age shouldn't be able to do. She decided to talk to him and see what he was like she didn't have many friends her age many of them were other Himes' of other countries or were the heir to some clan but most were a few years older than her some even more. So she headed to her bedroom to sleep and think of the blonde boy walking up trees and making water versions of himself.

The Next morning...

Naruto had woken up and didn't recognize where he was looking around he figures it out. _"The hotel but how did I get here I thought that I was at the palace??"_ he thought but then remembered that he had passed out when he had finally reached the top of the tree. Looking over to the other bed he sees that it is already empty. _"What time is it?"_ he looks over at the clock which reads 10:47 AM. _"Ji-chan should be at the palace already...I should get ready and head over there."_ So Naruto did just that he did his morning routine and left the hotel with 'Cat' following him since she volunteered to guard him when he woke up. Before leaving he made sure that his pack was filled with water and had all his scrolls. Naruto decided to stop at the tea house again to grab some of their delicious cinnamon buns before heading to the palace.

After buying himself his cinnamon buns he and 'Cat' headed straight to the palace. Upon reaching the gates they greeted the guards and asked if they could go in. The guards nodded and told them to wait for a guide to show them were the meeting was taking place this time.

The gates opened up to show that Asuma had come to greet them. "Yo, 'Ruto come on they're having the meeting in northeast courtyard." as he led them to the meeting. Naruto wondered what was so special about the northeast courtyard to make the Daimyo want to have the meeting there so he asked.

"Ne Smokey whats so cool about the northeast courtyard? Why have the meeting there?"

"Ah the northeast courtyard is the personal garden of the Diamyo's daughter Akira-hime. Its a really nice place lots of plants and flowers of every color. She's even got a few plants growing some fruits and veggies. So since it's a nice day they decided to have the meeting outside. Were here." Asuma finished pointing out that they had arrived.

Naruto looked around and he had to say that it was indeed a wonderful place. Looking around he could identify some of the plants. He saw a gazebo set up in the center of the garden surrounded by a pond. He could see hummingbirds and peacocks wandering around the garden. He hadn't noticed that Asuma was already moving over the little bridge going over to the gazebo. 'Cat' had to nudge him forward so that he would follow. Upon reaching the gazebo he could see that Sarutobi and the Daimyo sitting around a table with a cup of jasmine tea surrounded by their guards. He sat down near Sarutobi and declined the tea offered to him, as the two power figures continued their talk.

He pulled out the book he had bought the day before on how to play the flute. He opened the book and tuned out the boring conversation between the two leaders. Two hours had gone by and the Daimyo had called for a lunch break and had his servants bring the food out to the gazebo, and to bring his wife and daughter out to join them for lunch. The food was immediately brought out by many butlers holding trays with and array of food set on them. The Daimyo's wife Azumi and daughter came out a few minutes after the call for lunch was sent. Azumi had red hair that was done up in a fancy style. She was around 5'3'' and wore a ornate kimono with a floral design.

The meal was as enjoyable as could be in the acquaintance of the royal family. Though throughout the dinner everyone in attendance had noticed that Akira kept stealing glances at Naruto. Naruto for his part had caught her a few times. Lunch was over pretty quickly and the meeting was resumed once the trays were cleaned up.

Naruto had once again pulled out his book and continued where he left off. Akira had gotten bored and excused herself and went out into the garden. Naruto had seen her leave and snapped his book shut. He excused himself and followed Akira. He wanted to know why she kept stealing glances at him during lunch. He came upon her sitting under a sakura tree with her feet in the pond.

He walked up next to her and leaned against the tree with his hands resting behind his head. She looked up at him and said. "Is there something you need Naruto-san?" before looking back out at the pond.

"Hm did you say something?" Naruto replied still acting aloof.

Akira snapped he head back to face and was about to yell when she was stopped by Naruto speaking. "Ah sorry I couldn't resist. I did come here for something though." Naruto stopped playing the aloof character and looked directly at her. "I was wondering why you kept staring at me during lunch. Maybe you could help me out and tell me?" he waited for to answer.

Akira blushed as she heard the question. She had thought that she went unnoticed but apparently not. She looked away not wanting him to see her blush.

"I didn't have any food or anything on my face at the time did I?" Naruto said looking sheepish. Akira shook her head and giggled. "Hmm if it wasn't that then I don't know what it could've been!?" Naruto said sighing in exasperation. Akira giggled again and looked back up at him.

"I was looking at you because I wanted to know more about you. You are the only other kid my age that I have met." Naruto looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I only know people older than me." Akira said.

Naruto slid down the trunk of the tree into a sitting position next to her. He looked up at the sky before speaking. "I don't have many friends in Konoha. Not many people like me for some reason. I really don't know why..." Akira looked at Naruto who was still looking up. Akira wanted to change the subject cause she saw that he was becoming introverted.

"What was it you were doing yesterday when your were in the central courtyard?"

"Ah that was something called a control exercise that ninjas learn to make them better at controlling their chakra. Control is really important when doing jutsu's it helps to not waste chakra when performing a jutsu." Naruto said in lecture mode.

Akira looked at him totally confused, she didn't know what he was talking about. Naruto sensing her confusion tried to clear things up so he went into an in depth explanation about chakra and jutsu's. Naruto got an idea so brought it up.

"Hey Akira-hime I got an idea!" Akira looked at him with a look that said 'well what is it'. "How about I teach you some stuff that I know?" Naruto said looking at her. "Who knows it could be really fun for the both of us." Akira thought about it for a few seconds, and then nodded.

"Okay sure." Akira said.

"Alright let's start with unlocking your chakra. First all you do..." Naruto began to help Akira unlock her chakra so she could use it for any jutsu's.

* * *

And so the week went by everyday Naruto would follow Sarutobi to the palace. Once there Naruto would meet up with Akira in he garden. She had unlocked her chakra that day but it wasn't really impressive, her reserves were about enough to make 1 normal bunshin. He taught her the leaf floating exercise, along with the basic academy taijutsu Kata. He had also written down how to do all of the above so she could use it for reference in case she forgets how to do something.

They spent the time when they were not doing ninja things relaxing and talking about random things. Naruto would talk about how he would get so strong so that he could protect everyone and make sure no one has to suffer. Akira would talk about how boring the life of a princess was, saying that she couldn't do anything fun and how she was cooped up on the castle grounds not being able to go out without a huge entourage of people.

The day came for the swords that he had commissioned to be made for him to be finished. So he headed to Murusame's shop with 'Cat' as his ANBU guard. He entered the shop and walked over to the counter, once again he could hear the clanging of steal in the back room. Naruto went up to the counter to ring the service bell. Murusame walked out of the back room upon hearing the bell.

"Ah perfect timing young man. Your swords are ready let me go into the back to get them." Murusame walked back into the back room to retrieve the boys swords. He came back into the room with a box about 3 feet in length and 2 feet wide. He placed the box on the counter and gestured to for Naruto to open it up.

Naruto opened the box and was greeted with the sight of a 2 ½ foot katana and a 1 foot long wakizashi whose blades were of such pure silver that it almost looked like they were made of crystal. The handles to the blades were wrapped in black and red thread. The guards of the blades were the standard circular guard. He picked up the katana in a firm grip and was surprised at the weight it was pretty light almost as light as a kunai. He placed the sword back in the box and closed it. Naruto made sure to check the extra addition to the sheath of the wakizashi to make sure that it was what he wanted, seeing that it was satisfactory he placed it back.

"These are fine blades Murusame-sama I am glad that I came to." Naruto said with a bow. "May I know the cost of these fine pieces of art are?"

"Thank you my boy the total will be 4,550 ryo." Naruto reached into his pack and pulled out a scroll labeled money. He unsealed the scroll and sent chakra into it out of the scroll came a sack filled with ryo 29,000 to be exact. He counted out the bills and added another thousand to the payment. He handed the money to Murusame.

"You gave me a little to much young one..." Murusame tried to give it back but Naruto refused to take it.

"Please keep it Murusame-sama I gave you that because of the extra work that I made you do and I know that should something happen to my weapons that you are the man to come to." Naruto said preparing to to grab the box containing his new swords. When he was stopped by Murusame.

"May I know the name of the man that I crafted these swords for?" Murusame asked.

"Ah how could I have forgotten to introduce myself how rude of me." Naruto said while rubbing the back of his neck. "Naruto Uzumaki." he said as he held out his hand to shake.

Murusame grasps his small hand and shakes it. "Naruto-san I expect you to use those blades well" Naruto nodded and said.

"I will. I thank you once again I will now be on my way. I will see you again sometime in the near future." as he grabbed his box and waved goodbye to Murusame. Naruto and 'Cat' left the blacksmith and headed toward the palace where Sarutobi was having tea with the Nobunaga.

* * *

The meetings had ended on the third day but since Naruto had to wait for his swords they had used the extra four days to mingle with the royal family. Sarutobi spent the four days talking with Nobunaga about Icha Icha Paradise. He also spent time talking to Asuma trying to repair the relationship between them. Since he didn't really like the fact that Asuma joined the Guardians, but now seeing that he is doing fine and seems to enjoy it they came to terms and starting acting like a father and son.

Akira and Naruto were inseparable during the four days. The adults had seen how the two were with each other. Akira's mother and father had never seen Akira so happy. Ever since she started spending time with Naruto she could always be seen smiling. It warmed their hearts to see their daughter laughing and smiling for once and not the quiet little girl who spent her days in the garden.

Sarutobi had also seen the change in Naruto. He had only seen Naruto smile a true smile only a few times in his young life. He could say that Naruto was truly happy when he was with Akira, he had spent less time training and more time enjoying the small amount of fun that Akira helped provide. Sarutobi was dreading going back to Konoha cause once Naruto was in Konoha he would go straight back to his old self. Isolating himself and burying himself in his reading and training.

The day came for the group of Konoha ninjas and ninja in training to depart. The group made their way to through the city to the main gates of the city. They left the hotel early that morning to avoid the human traffic that the capitals streets. Naruto wore his red hoody and black shorts. On his left hip was his newly purchased daisho.

When the gates came into view they saw that the royal family was there waiting to send them off. So the group walked up to Nobunaga and his family.

"Sarutobi-dono I wish you a safe journey back to Konoha. It was a pleasure drinking tea and trading stories." Nobunaga said while holding his hand out to shake.

"The pleasure is all mine Nobunaga-dono. You were very accommodating even letting us use up a couple more days of your family and your time." Sarutobi said shaking his hand.

"No problem it was worth it to see my daughter Akira happy." Nobunaga said while looking at Akira who was off to the side with Naruto saying their goodbyes. The adults observed the two children as they talked. The two were totally unaware that they were being watched by the

"Akira-chan it looks like it's time for me to head back to Konoha." Naruto said looking up at the sky trying to avoid eye contact so that she wouldn't see his sad expression.

Akira looked at him with the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes. She looks down trying to find something to say. She looks back up and sees that he is still looking up at the sky. "Can't you stay here instead of going to Konoha Naruto-kun?" Akira said hoping to get her friend to stay.

Naruto sighed hearing this question. He was all for staying with her but he knew he couldn't if he wanted to continue to become stronger. "I can't Akira-chan. I wish I could...sigh...I really wish I could but I can't. I need to get stronger to protect everyone." Naruto said bringing his gaze upon her. "You most of all Akira-chan."

Akira looked up at him this time with tears falling. She leaped up forward and wrapped her arms around his body and sobbed into her chest. "Please don't go Naruto-kun I don't know what I'll do without you here to play with me and practice all the cool things you taught me...Please stay." she spoke through her sobbing.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her when she hugged him and just held her. He listened to her speak and when she was done he pushed her away and spoke. "Hey hey stop crying...Himes' don't cry, so dry your eyes...besides you look even prettier when you smile." Naruto said grinning at her trying to lighten the mood. Akira's sobs slowly subsided and she wiped her tears away with a light blush on her face from his comment.

"Look when I'm gone why don't you have one of your fathers Guardians practice and teach you. I know Asuma would help if you asked." Naruto said. Akira nodded.

"Ah why don't I give you something to remember me by...hang on a sec I know I have something that I can give you." Naruto said while pulling off his pack. He opened it up and searched the many items in it for the thing that he wanted to give to Akira. He finally pulled out a small box. He opened the box and in it was the ring that he won in the poker game on a black string so he could wear it as a necklace since it was to big for his finger. He lifted it out of the box and put the box back into his pack. He walked up to her and said.

"Here Akira-chan I want you have this." Naruto said as he put it on over her head. After he put it on he stepped back and looked at her.

The adults had seen this and raised an eyebrow at this and wondered where he got the ring. Not even Sarutobi knew where he got it from since he had shoved the pocket watch and the ring in his pocket when he won the game. Azumi and the other females of the group thought that it was totally 'kawaii'. Akira looked at the ring and saw that it was beautiful. The yellow diamond though not the largest she has seen was cut perfectly. She held it her tiny hand. When she was done admiring the ring she looked back at him and stepped forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek and a soft 'thank you'.

Naruto was shocked when she kissed him along with the adults, though Nobunaga, Azumi, and Sarutobi were thinking about what would happen if the two got together. After Naruto got over his shock he smiled.

"Your welcome Akira-chan now you'll always have something to remember me by." Naruto said.

Sarutobi looked at the time and decided that they needed to head out now so they could make good time back to Konoha. He cleared his throat and spoke. "Naruto it's time to leave finish up your goodbyes and we will head out." Naruto nodded and began wrapping up his goodbye.

"Listen Akira-chan how 'bout I this." Naruto said and paused to make sure he was heard. "When the time comes when you can finally wear that ring properly I will come back for you. I promise!" Naruto said as he gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead and said his final goodbye.

"I'll miss you Hime." and with that he pulled his pack over his shoulders and walked away not wanting anyone see how sad he was that he was leaving the girl who made him so happy.

_Shunshin:_ Body Flicker

_Suiton: Kirigakure no jutsu_: Hidden Mist technique

_Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no jutsu_: Water Clone technique

_Katon: Housenka no jutsu_: Mythical Phoenix Flame technique

_Katon: Houkakasui:_ Fire stream

_Suiton: Teppodama:_ Gunshot

_Daisho:_ (Big-small) A katana and a wakizashi.

**THIS WAS MOSTLY TO START THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AKIRA AND NARUTO SO FAR AKIRA AND INO ARE TWO OF THE GIRLS THAT I'M GONNA PUT WITH HIM. THINKING MAYBE 2-3 MORE.**

**SUGGESTIONS FOR GIRLS ARE WELCOME IF I WILL TRY TO FIT THEM IN WHEN I CAN. SO LEAVE A REVIEW WITH THE GIRL'S NAME.**


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Academy grad is at 16 years old. I might be taking stuff from other animes but this is not a crossover. Definitely an AU story he will be traveling for around 10 years with people he meets Suggestions always welcome. Strong, Observant, Intelligent & Mature Naruto.**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO AND OTHER CHARACTERS I AM TAKING FROM ANIMES AND GAMES:(....**

AN: So yea whoever put down the Mizukage as a girl I will add her to the harem...I got the perfect idea for the two of them to hook up, and also for Naruto to gain some travelling partners. Still trying to decide on others so keep suggesting them. I might be a little long in the next update cuz I am thinking of where I am taking the story after the next few chapters. Thanks to the people who leave reviews it makes me feel good to know that peopl like my story as it is my first attempt at one. Enjoy the chapter:)

* * *

Two days on the road...

It was now nighttime and the group had set up camp in a clearing by a stream. The group was as silent as usual considering they had 4 ANBU who were not known for their extrovert attitudes, an old man who liked to reminisce while smoking his pipe, and a boy who always had his nose in a book looking for new things to learn.

Now Naruto had done exactly what Sarutobi knew he would do once they left the capital he closed himself off and read his books or practiced something he learned from his scrolls. The two days had gone by rather slowly for Sarutobi. He had contemplated on leaving Naruto in the capital but thought other wise Naruto wanted to get stronger and to do that he would have to become a ninja so he had to graduate from the academy.

The group was relaxing enjoying the quiet night when the 5 veteran ninjas sensed chakra signatures surrounding them. They prepared themselves for what was to come and sure enough 6 nuke-nins from Iwa & Ame and a group of roughly 20 bandits surrounded them. The strongest of the nuke-nin who obviously the leader of the group stepped forward and spoke.

"Are you the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no sato?"

"And if I am?" Sarutobi said.

"We have orders from Orochimaru-sama to kill you." the man said as he charged forward at the group.

He was intercepted by the ANBU but his followers charged as well providing an opportunity for him to leap back. Sarutobi who was still standing where he was with Naruto behind his back whispered to the boy. Before leaping into the battle.

"Naruto I want you to hide yourself in the forest." Naruto nodded and dashed into the surrounding shrubbery. Quickly finding a spot to conceal himself he turns to watch the battle. Naruto could see jutsu flying and saw a few that he wanted to learn. He saw the ANBU use _Kagebunshin no jutsu_ and knew just what that jutsu did he had read about it in one of his ninjutsu books. It is supposed to be a forbidden jutsu due to the drain on the users chakra. It had so many good uses like infiltration reading, training and many more useful things. Naruto was able to catch the handseal that the ANBU used and made sure it was burned into his memory so he could try it later.

The nuke-nins were holding their own against the ANBU due to the numerous bandits that would leap in and attack. The Sandaime was fighting against the leader and was winning. In the middle of the battle a man with green hair pulled out a weird looking handle that Naruto thought he had seen before. The nin sent chakra through it and yellow lightning crackled forth and formed a blade.

The Konoha nins who saw this immediately knew just what that weapon was. _"The __Raijin__"_ they collectively thought. Naruto continued to watch the man wielding the Raijin as he swung the blade at the ANBU.

What the Konoha nins didn't notice was when they were momentarily distracted by the appearance of the Nidaime's legendary sword was a pure white hand reach up out of the ground with a senbon needle dripping with a yellow liquid pointed at Sarutobi. The hand launched the senbon and disappeared back into the ground. The senbon hit dead on with Sarutobi's neck.

Feeling something hit his neck Sarutobi leaps back and raises a hand to the spot of discomfort and finds the senbon. He pulled it out and analyzed it, he could see that it was poisoned but with what he didn't know. He dropped the senbon and prepared to jump back into the battle but staggered and dropped to one knee.

The ANBU saw this and dealt with their opponents quickly so they could assist their leader. As they tried to regroup the nin Raijin intercepted them and was quickly overwhelmed by the 4 elite ninjas. His head was separated from his body before he had time to think as the ANBU didn't even look back at him while they rushed to the Hokage. This had happened very close to the spot where Naruto was so when he saw the body drop along with the Raijin he quickly ran from his hiding place to grab it and ran back into the forest where he put the item .

The ANBU landed near the Hokage and checked them over. 'Dog' who was the captain of the squad knew he had been poisoned and gave out the orders. "'Horse' and 'Rat' will cover our backs as 'Cat' and myself rush back to Konoha to get Hokage-sama treated for the poison he was hit with. I will leave Naruto in your care after you are done dealing with the enemy bring him back to Konoha with you. Understood." 'Horse' and 'Rat' said "Hai" 'Cat' spoke and tried to argue about bringing the boy with them instead of leaving him here but was countered by 'Dog' who said. "We can't be slowed down or else Hokage-sama will not make it. If we brought him with us one of us would have to carry him since we will be moving at top speed. What would happen if we ran into more enemies waiting up ahead? How could we fight while carrying two passengers?" 'Cat' nodded reluctantly.

"Alright I'll leave our rear to you guys." 'Dog' said as he picked up Sarutobi bridal style and he and 'Cat' sped off back to Konoha. But 'Dog' didn't know that 'Horse' and 'Rat' were supporters of the "Naruto is the Kyuubi" faction of Konoha so they didn't plan on bringing the boy back with them. In fact they were planning on how to make it look like the kid was killed during the battle.

As this was going on Naruto was still hiding in a bush watching as the Hokage was rushed back to Konoha. He watched as the two remaining ANBU stood between the route to Konoha and the remaining 8 remaining bandits and 3 nuke-nins. He kept his eyes on the battle and watched as the bandits and nuke-nin began to fall to the ANBU. One of the ANBU was caught off guard and was brought down by one of the former Iwa nins doton jutsu. Now the battle was between the remaining ANBU and the last 2 nuke-nins the bandits had fled when only 3 were left and dashed off into the forest.

The battle between the last remaining ANBU and the nuke-nins was intense jutsu after jutsu was fired and punches and kicks were traded. It finally ended when one of the nuke-nins used a suicide jutsu to blow himself up while leveling the surrounding area. Neither the nuke-nin or ANBU were left standing and the resulting explosion forced Naruto out of the bush he was hiding in and flew him into a tree away from the battle. He hit the tree headfirst and was knocked out before his body hit the ground.

* * *

The sun shone through his eyelids which forced Naruto to awaken. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up still a little hazy. He looked around and saw that he was in a forest. He blinked a few times and suddenly remembered the battle from last night he immediately tried to stand up but was still to drowsy and staggered. Giving himself sometime to fully wake-up he sat down and checked himself to make sure he hadn't lost anything and sure enough he had everything including the newly acquired Raijin.

Standing up he tries to figure out where he is. He wanted to find where the battle was because he knew his way to the road from the campsite. Naruto spun around and looked at his surroundings trying to figure out which direction the camp was in. After awhile of taking in his surroundings he picks the direction in which he thinks the camp is and starts walking.

As he trekked through the forest he was unaware that he was going in the wrong direction. Instead of heading North where Konoha was he was heading West to the border between Wind and Fire county. He traveled for miles thinking that he was heading in the right direction.

Soon night began to fall and Naruto had no idea where he was heading so he tried to find the nearest water source so could make camp. Making his way through the bushes and trees he heard voices coming from somewhere around him. He cautiously made his way to the voices to see if they would be of any help to him.

When he could see the light of a fire he carefully hid himself so he could observe the people whose voices he heard. He came upon the sight of the 3 bandits who fled the battle when the 2 ANBU were left fighting. He observed them more intensely and could see that they were standing around something and beating it. He could hear yelps off pain coming from the object they were beating so he moved from his current spot to a place where he could get a view on the object of their beating.

Finding a suitable spot he looked between the bandits and could see a small orange tiger cub with gashes from a blade and a broken leg. Near the tiger cub was the fur of an adult tiger Naruto looked at the fire and could see that the bandits were cooking the tiger meat. He knew it was kill or be killed but the way they were torturing the tiger cub was appalling. He made a move on impulse and dashed from his hiding spot to grab the cub when the bandits weren't paying attention. He made it to the cub and checked it over to make sure it was alive. After confirming it was still breathing he gently picked it up and tried to sneak back into the forest. But it wasn't to be because one of the bandits had turned around and saw him.

"Hey kid where the hell you goin' with my meal?" the bandit who saw him said gaining the attention of the other two.

"I'm taking this cub away from you filthy bastards who keep tormenting it." Naruto spat out.

"Oh really." the man said raising an eyebrow. "You think a little shit like you can getaway with stealing my property." he was tapped on the shoulder by his buddy who spoke up.

"Ain't that the little brat we saw last night with the 5 ninjas we attacked?" they all looked at Naruto again checking him over.

"That's right that's the same brat from last night." the third bandit said.

"Haha...ain't we lucky boys since this kid was with someone like the Hokage he must be important." the man who spotted him stated. "How's 'bout we hold this brat ransom I bet they would pay a pretty penny for him?" he looked at the other two who nodded as they unsheathed their katanas. The leader followed suit and said. "Alright boys don't damage him to much we can't have him dying on us before we get our money."

The three men rushed forward at Naruto moving at a really slow speed. He dodged the men and made sure they were far enough so that he could place the cub down and draw his katana. He placed the cub down on the ground and drew his blade and stood in a basic stance taught to him by 'Cat'. He even released his chakra weights.

"Boy do you really think that you can take on three grown men with that little blade of yours?" the bandit leader taunted as the other two laughed.

"I know that I can take care of some pathetic bandits like yourselves." Naruto said putting up a front because he didn't know if he could. After all this was his first real fight.

The bandits stopped laughing and glared at the boy. As one they charged forward. Naruto who stood his ground and waited for them to get into his range. He knew that the older men had the advantage. They had numbers, experience and reach on him. As soon as the first one reached him he parried the strike and kicked him in the balls. The man dropped to the ground and started to whimper. Naruto left the man on the ground and proceeded to do battle with the other two.

The second one to reach him tried a downward slash. Naruto just sidestepped the blade and stabbed the man through the chest. Naruto froze as he watched the man die on his blade, lifeless eyes staring at him as he stood with his blade in the mans chest. _"Oh god I killed him...what the hell am I gonna do...am I a bad person...shit I'm a murderer now..." _His thoughts were interrupted as he was kicked in the stomach by the third bandit. He was sent tumbling a few feet back. He quickly got over his shock from his first kill and thought _"No I'm not a bad person...it's either kill or be killed."_ He reached down into and grasped the hilt of his wakizashi since his katana was still embedded in the bandits body.

The man who kicked him charged at him with his blade raised ready to strike him down. As the bandit swung horizontally at his head he turned his blade and deadlocked himself with the bandit. The bandit was slowly overpowering him as he sneered down at him. Naruto thought about what he could do and so he released himself from the deadlock and dropped to his knees the blade passed right over his head. Naruto saw and opening and slashed across the mans stomach leaving him bleeding out his innards.

As he watched the man fall to the ground he was cut on his arm by the remaining bandits throwing knife. The throwing knife had made him lose his grip on his wakizashi as it fell harmlessly to the ground.

"You little shit I'll fucking kill you for that cheap shot you pulled." the last bandit growled out as he stood up. He raised his blade and charged at Naruto fully intent on killing him foregoing his little plan to use him as ransom.

Naruto didn't know what to do he was unarmed. He watched as the man was rushing at him. Time seemed to slow down as Naruto's hands began to form seals without even thinking. The man was now almost right in front of him when Naruto finished the seals and shouted out. "_Katon: Houkakasui_" as he blew out a stream on fire at the man. The jutsu hit the man and immediately took effect engulfing the man in flames burning him to death.

Naruto stood there as he listened to the mans screams of pain until the man finally fell to the ground dead. Naruto was exhausted he fell to his knees he felt like passing out on the spot but he had to make sure the tiger cub was still alive. He trudged over to the cub while picking up his katana and wakizashi. He knelt beside the cub and checked to see if it was still alive and found it still breathing and passed out next to the cub.

* * *

Naruto woke from his exhausted state. The first thing he remembered was that he was in a battle last night. He looked over to where the bodies of the men were and could see that they were indeed there. It was than that the reality of the situation dawned upon him. He had made his first kill and then two more after it. He had survived his first battle and he was lost in the woods. He laid back down and spread his arms out in exasperation and hit something. Looking at the object that he hit he saw the tiger cub.

He shot up and leaned over the cub. He placed his hand on its side to make sure it was still breathing. He sighed in relief when he felt his hand move up and down with the cubs breaths. Naruto pulled his pack off and searched it for bandages or something he could use as a bandage. He found a roll of bandages and used the water from his pack to clean and wrap the cubs body to help the healing of the wounds it received. He didn't know what to do about the broken leg but he tried to set the bone right and used a branch from a tree as a splint. After checking over his work to make sure it was up to his satisfaction he pulled out an apple to snack on.

"Uh what am I gonna do now!?" he spoke to no one in particular. "Well might as well get rid of these guys and head out." as he stood and dusted himself off.

Naruto searched the bodies for anything useful before disposing of them. The only things that he scrounged up that were useful were some ryo, and a waterproof gray cloak. Naruto then picked up the tiger cub and spent the morning walking through the forest looking for a water source and a small animal to eat. He found a small lake a few miles from the bandits camp where he decided to make camp so he could figure out what he was going to do. Setting the cub down and he pulled his pack off and grabbed a few kunai from his pack and jumped into the lake to catch some fish..

He made a water clone and gave it the kunai and told it to wait on the waters edge and throw the kunai when he would scare the fish into jumping out of the water. Naruto and his clone worked in tandem for a good while catching fish. Naruto dispelled the clone and got out of the water. Walking over to his haul he picked up the fish and headed back to the place were he left his pack. Setting the fish down on he started to collect rocks to and firewood to make a fire. Using a the only katon jutsu he knew he lit the wood on fire and then proceeded to remove the scales from the fish he had caught. When he finished scaling the fish he placed them on sticks around the fire and went to check on the tiger cub.

When he reached the cub he could see that it had awoken and was carefully watching him. So Naruto walked up slowly and tried to make himself look as unimposing as he could. He sat down in front of the tiger cub and started talking to it when it started growling at him.

"Hey little guy I don't mean you any harm I was just coming to check if you were alright." he said waving his hands in front of him to show that he meant no harm.

The tiger cub stared at him with golden slitted eyes trying to sense if the boy in front of him was a threat. After sensing no threat he stopped growling and rested his head on his front paws. Naruto nodded to himself as he found the cub was fine and went back to the fire.

Naruto sat by the fire as he cleaned his weapons before he went to his pack and pulled out his flute and book on how to play and started to study it. He practiced the notes that the book suggested until the time to turn the fish over so it would be cooked on both sides. After turning the fish he once again picked up the flute and book and practiced. When the fish were done cooking he placed the book and flute in his pack and started to eat. He was about to bite into his first fish when he heard the cubs little voice meowing. He looks over and sees that it is trying to make its way to the fire. Naruto walked over with a fish in hand and placed the fish in front of the cub and spoke.

"You must be hungry huh? Here have this one."

He watched as the tiger chewed the fish and when it was done he picked it up and made his way back to the fire. He placed the cub down and put a fish in front of it and grabbed one for himself. The two ate until it was midday when Naruto started thinking about what he was going to do now. _"Well I just need to find a village and then figure out how to get back to Konoha. Well I'll head out tomorrow morning I should use this time to do some training and then rest for travel tomorrow."_

So Naruto trained his with his swords so he could use them better just in case he was attacked again. The hours went by and Naruto finally grew tired he sheathed his blade and took his swords from his waist and began to remove his clothing so he could wash away all the sweat in the lake. He was joined by the tiger cub who had somehow made his way into the water. He moved over to the cub and sat down beside it and started talking to it.

"You must be all alone now huh since I assume those bandits killed your parents last night." the cub gave a sad sounding growl when he said that. "I don't have anyone either why don't you stay and travel with me?" Naruto asked the cub.

Naruto didn't expect an answer but he was surprised when the cub let out a mighty roar which wasn't much since it was still young. Naruto chuckled and pet the tiger on the head before speaking.

"Alright looks like you and me are partners like those Inuzuka and their dogs...haha...now all you need is a name...hmm what to call you Tora. How does that sound?" the cub gave an approving growl.

"Alright from now on you're Tora." he chuckled when Tora put his head on his Naruto's hand.

"Wait I don't even know if you're a boy or girl!? Growl if you are a boy and nod if you're a girl 'Kay." Koutora growled and then Naruto knew his answer.

"Alright now I know you're a boy. Sooo...you wouldn't happen to know the way to Konoha would you?" Tora gave him confused look and Naruto just sighed. "Of course you wouldn't I guess I was just trying to get home faster...sigh...I guess we'll just have to wing it. Alright buddy we head out tomorrow morning." with that said he picked Tora up and got ready for a night under the stars.

* * *

3 days later in Konoha...

Sarutobi had finally recovered from the vicious poison that had made it into his system and was released from the hospital. He was on his way to his office to get the report from his ANBU who had joined him. His mind wandered and he began of think about his former student he was disturbed by his sudden interest in wanting him dead.

Entering his office he calls in his ANBU. Two black cloaked figures appeared in the room and removed their hoods revealing 'Dog' and 'Cat'.

"Report!" Sarutobi said instantly in Hokage mode.

"After you had been hit with a poison senbon we regrouped and developed a plan. We needed to get you out of there as soon as possible since we didn't know what type of poison you were hit with. We teamed in twos one escorting you back to Konoha and the other two holding of the enemies long enough to insure a safe retreat." 'Dog' said.

Sarutobi looked straight at 'Dog' and studied him very intensely. 'Dog' seemed to understand what was going on and shrunk in on himself.

"So where is Naruto-kun, 'Horse', and 'Rat'?"

"I don't know sir. We haven't received word yet on their situation so--" 'Dog' was interrupted by a huge blast of killing intent.

Sarutobi was on his feet instantly when he heard that they hadn't received news from the team.

"So let me get this straight you left a six year old boy with two ANBU against eight or more enemies!?" 'Dog' bowed his head.

"Has backup been sent?" 'Dog' shook his head and Sarutobi looked incredulously at him and asked 'why'.

"We are currently short on manpower and I trust that my men will return safely along with Naruto." 'Dog' answered.

"I want a team sent out now and I don't care if you have to pull people from other duties just get a team out. Understood?" Sarutobi said in a firm tone.

'Dog' nodded and disappeared to complete his task. Sarutobi took a seat and began to think about his surrogate grandson.

* * *

Weeks later...

Naruto and Tora have been traveling the country and have yet to find a town or city they had ended up in the more mountainous region of western fire country. Tora's leg and cuts were fully healed and he was now walking beside Naruto instead of being carried. Naruto would even sometimes follow Tora instead of the other way around. Tora would hunt on the days that Naruto would stop and make camp.

Naruto was calm throughout his situation he wasn't panicked he knew how to survive out in the wilderness and he was never bored with Tora by his side. He had bonded with Tora to the point that Tora he and Tora could somewhat communicate. He knew what type growl what meant what and Tora could understand Naruto's body language.

He had also trained whenever he could, he had learned _Katon: Housenka no jutsu_, _Suiton: Kirigakure no justu_, _Suiton: Reppousho_ and had started to study the Raijin closeup. He had also began writing down jutsu's that he wanted to create and even wrote down some jutsu's that he hoped would work in tandem with Tora. His flute playing had also gotten better he could play simple songs like lullabies – which Tora seemed to really like – as they say music calms the beast.

This day Naruto is following Tora's lead. They were still in the mountains and for some reason Tora would not stop until he found what he was looking for. Naruto could tell that Tora was really excited and Naruto could not figure out what it was that was instigating such excitement from the tiger cub.

He eventually stopped thinking about what it was that Tora was trying to find and just followed the cub. After trekking up one of the mountains Tora had lead Naruto to a cave hidden by shrubs and bushes. Tora made a motion for Naruto to follow him in so Naruto did. The cave entrance was big enough for one fully grown man to fit through without trouble. Tora lead him further down the cave until it became so dark that Naruto had to use a katon jutsu and a makeshift torch to light up the cave.

The two had traveled through the cave going up and down until the cave started to get wider and a draft could be felt coming from somewhere. Tora led him to the place were the draft was coming from and boy was Naruto stunned. Before him was a very green forest with all species of tigers wandering about. Tora took the lead once more and moved through the forest until he made it to a huge lake being fed by a waterfall with an island in the middle with a crystalline structure that looked like it was in the shape of a 20 foot tiger's head. On top of the tigers head was a beautiful sakura tree.

Though the place was something straight out of a book Naruto was getting a very uneasy feeling that he was being watched. In fact he had started having this feeling as soon as he took a step into this hidden forest. He heard a splash and saw that Tora had leaped into the lake and was swimming around. He shrugged off his pack and began setting up a camp. He pulled out his sleeping bag and laid it out along with setting up a small fire pit before following Tora's example and jumping into the lake.

The cool refreshing feeling that the water provided was extremely relaxing. Naruto closed his eyes and floated on his back. He soon was lost in the relaxing aura that their surroundings seemed to exude. Before he knew it he had drifted all the way to the island with the crystalline structure. He stepped out of the water onto the island and walked to the structure to get a closer look at it.

Tora had seen Naruto get out and decided to follow him. Shaking off the excess water from his fur and followed after him. He was soon at Naruto's side who was now staring up at the front of the structure. Naruto had felt Tora approach him and looked down. He knelt down and petted the cub on his head and spoke.

"This is pretty cool huh Tora." Tora nodded and pushed his head into Naruto's hand.

"I wonder how this got here...it's definitely man made. Let's check it out some more." Naruto said as he led Tora around the structure.

The two partners walked around the crystalline tiger head and searched for anything of interest. They first searched the surrounding area for anything that would help them understand what the structure was doing in a cave in the middle of the mountains. After searching the outside of the monument Naruto had decided to check the inside of the mouth.

Walking inside the mouth of the tiger he sees that in the back of the mouth is a mural depicting a giant white tiger with wings protruding from its shoulders standing proudly over his kind. Below the mural was a alter with a tiger on his stomach with a large white scroll sitting between its front paws.

Naruto walked up and studied the painting and scroll before pulling the scroll from the tigers paws. He opened the scroll and saw that it was a summon scroll. He was giddy with excitement at the fact that he had found a summon scroll he unrolled it and was surprised that no one else had signed it. He knew how summon scrolls worked from his reading and when he had seen the Hokage summon Enma when he had asked if he could see what a summon was like. Biting his thumb he signed the scroll and rolled it back up before running out of the structure to try out his summon.

Moving far enough away from the structure he began to concentrate and gather his chakra. Feeling that he had gathered up all the chakra that his little body could produce he bit his thumb and did the handseals that he remembered the Hokage use and slammed his hand on the ground. Naruto immediately dropped to his knees from the draw on his chakra and Tora moved to his side to check on his partner.

A poof of smoke appeared and a roar was heard. The smoke cleared with the wave of air from the the summons roar and revealed a wolf sized white tiger standing before Naruto and Tora. Its blue eyes looked down on the kneeling boy and the tiger cub beside him looking worriedly at him.

"**Boy are you the one who has summoned me?" the white tiger said. To which Naruto looked up and nodded still trying to catch his breath.**

"**I see what is your name I shall return to our realm and inform our leader that you have signed the Holy Tiger contract."**

"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto answered.

"**Naruto-san it is nice to see that someone has signed our Holy contract. I will take my leave Byakko-sama will visit you to give you the test to see if you are worthy of our contract." with that the wolf sized tiger poofed back to his realm.**

"Look at that Tora we found the tiger contract now you can hang out with your kind." Tora gave a small growl in approval.

A large puff of smoke appeared that blanketed the cave and blocked the sight of all the organisms in the cave. A sudden strong wind blew the plume of smoke away to reveal the majestic figure of the leader of the tiger clan. Byakko of the West. Naruto was speechless at the sight before him. A tiger twice the size of the Hokage mountain was standing before him.

"**Ah little one you must be the boy who my child has told me about." Byakko said.**

Naruto was intimidated by the booming and powerful voice that Byakko had so he just nodded. Sensing the boys predicament Byakko shrinks himself down to a average sized tiger and speaks.

"**Is this better little one?"**

"Hai" Naruto said.

"**So little one what is your name? I am Byakko of the West, one of Kami's Four Guardians older than everything except the Shinigami and the other three Guardians.."**

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet you Byakko-sama."

"**Indeed a pleasure to meet you as well. Might I ask who that little cub beside you is?" Byakko said chuckling at the suffix to his name.**

"This is Tora he is my partner."

**Byakko studied Tora before the two started to converse through growls. The growling stopped and Byakko turned back to Naruto before speaking.**

"**Interesting. Well pleasure to meet you two now onto business.** **So you are the very first person to have signed the Tiger contract. Do you have any questions before I test you to see if you are worthy of my kins contract?" **Byakko said while sitting back on his haunches.

"Hai. What is so special about the Tiger contract? Is it powerful? If so how come I haven't heard of it before? What test are you talking about I've never read about summoners being tested to see if they can wield a contract?" Naruto said.

"**That's a lot of questions little one...alright where to start...Well the Tiger contract is special because it is one of the four holy contracts that Kami has placed on this plane." Naruto looked surprised by this but didn't interrupt. "You might be thinking why would Kami do that? Well I am one of his Four Guardians along with the Seiryuu of the Dragons/East, Suzaku of the Phoenixes/South, and Genbu of the Turtles/North."** Naruto choose this time to interrupt with a little comment.

"Wow I've read about people being able to summon Dragons and Phoenixes before but everyone says they are only a myth."

"**They are indeed real and not myth. But those are not the real contracts." Naruto looked confused at that so Byakko explained. "Well those two contracts are copies of the original. The more vicious of the two clans broke off and created their own contracts."**

"Why?"

"**Because the four holy contracts have responsibilities that our signers have to uphold. Our contracts are here to uphold the balance between the good and evil. Have you heard of the Bijuu? Yes, okay well let me tell you the truth about them the Bijuu are chakra sources in the shape of an animal with each having a tail from 1-9. Now a long time ago the nine Bijuu were one being forming the Juubi. It was pure evil it terrorized the lands for a long time until, a man was called upon by Kami to stop the rampaging Juubi. Kami blessed him with powers and changed the mans DNA giving him a special ocular ability. The mans eyes changed and his whole eye became gray along with concentric circles moving outward from his pupil. This man known as the Rikudou Sennin the father of the modern ninja." **Naruto looked absolutely stunned at this information he had heard the story of the Rikudou Sennin and to hear that he was real was amazing.

"**Now since the Juubi was extremely powerful Kami decided to send down some extra help in the form of four of her personal guardians. Yes Kami sent myself along with Seiryuu, Suzaku, and Genbu to help the man stop the monstrous entity. We battled the Juubi for days until we had weakened it to the point where the man could rip its soul out and seal it into himself, He also split the power of the Juubi into nine pieces creating the nine Bijuu. Along with sealing its soul he also sealed the Juubi's body in the moon, thus creating the moon itself." **Now if Naruto thought he had heard it all he was utterly flabbergasted upon hearing that the Rikudou Sennin created the moon and sealed the body of a monster into it.

"**So when the job was done Kami contacted us and told us that we were to remain on this plane in case something like the Juubi ever came to be. Well now that, that is over with let me finish answering your other questions."**

"**Hmm...well as you heard the tiger clan is indeed powerful as they are all descended from myself. As for why you haven't heard about it before well you are the first to sign the contract so nobody would have known that it existed. Now onto the last question this test was decided upon by the four of us guardians we will check to see if you are pure of heart and have the principles that each of us want for instance Seiryuu wants a summoner with wisdom, Suzaku wants a summoner with honor, Genbu a summoner with patience, myself is a summoner who values family above all else."** Naruto looked down when he heard the last part since he never knew his family not even their names or if they are still alive or deceased.

"**Anymore questions?" **Naruto shook his head.

"**Good now I will proceed to test you." **without any warning Byakko leaped forward and chomped on Naruto's left bicep.

Naruto screamed as he fell to the ground and writhed around in pain. Byakko watched as the boy writhed and waited to see if the boy would survive the test. The test that Byakko initiated sent Byakko into the boys very soul to search out if the boy met the requirements.

Byakko had finished checking the boys heart and saw that it was indeed pure. Moving on from there he headed to the boys mind to check his memories. Entering the mind he was barraged with scenes going back to as far as his birth. What he saw surprised him. He watched as the boy was taken from his mother who had died in childbirth by his father who had sealed the Kyuubi into his own son. He saw all the moments of loneliness and saw the isolation that he was forced to endure by the people of his village. He saw times when he was with Sarutobi and the Ichiraku family. He also saw the intensity with which he trained himself. He came upon his more recent memories of the boy and saw the interaction between him and Akira. Near the end he came upon the memories of the boy bonding with Tora.

The test ended and Byakko waited as the boy recovered from the effects of the test. Byakko used this time to reflect on what he saw. He wondered how the boy would take knowing that he holds a piece of the Juubi's power. He saw Tora walk up to the boys face and began to lick it and nuzzle him to show that he was worried. Naruto screamed for a little as the place where Byakko had bitten burned and a tiger resembling Byakko formed on his arm. After a few more minutes Naruto had recovered and was able to sit upright.

"**Well Naruto you have passed the test congratulations on becoming the first person to sign the tiger contract. The summon tattoo on your bicep is the symbol of the bond between the tigers clan and yourself. The tiger clan will always be your ally as long as you are fair and just." **Naruto nodded and rubbed the new tattoo on his bicep.

"**Now I have some things to say that I feel you should know." **Naruto nodded again and listened.

"**Alright what do you know of the Kyuubi?"**

"He is the strongest of the nine Bijuu, he attacked Konoha before the Yondaime Hokage defeated it. Most books and people say that he killed it but some people say that the Kyuubi was immortal and since he was pure chakra how can you kill something like that?"

"**Very good...you are quite intelligent for your age. Well essentially the other nine Bijuu are the same as the Juubi except less powerful. Now if that is so than how did the Yondaime stop the Kyuubi?" **Naruto thought about it but as he opened his mouth Byakko spoke. **"Now remember how I said the Rikudou Sennin defeated the Juubi?" Naruto nodded. **

"So the Yondaime sealed it away then?" Byakko nodded. "So where did he seal it then?" Naruto thought for awhile before he remembered how the people in Konoha acted towards him. He remembered his birthday as the same day as the Kyuubi attack. A look of horror came upon his face and he looked like he was about to cry, when he was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of Byakkos voice.

"**I think this will help you understand why he sealed the Kyuubi in you Naruto. When I did the test I checked your memories and I came upon a the memory of your birth. Your mother died in childbirth and your father took you from her right after she passed. Your father is the Yondaime Hokage Naruto." **Naruto looked at the majestic tiger with wide eyes.

"But why me?"

"**I believe that your father chose you because he figured that if he had to trust anyone with the type of power that the Kyuubi had...who more than his own flesh and blood?" **after Naruto heard this he understood why his father chose him.

"**This does not make you any less different of a person than you already are all it means is that you have another soul and another chakra source in your body. Understood?" **Naruto nodded and said a quick 'hai'.

"**Now that all the most important information is taken care of how about I explain all the abilities that the tiger contract has to offer." **

"**Okay well for starters I will be teaching you how to sense peoples auras." **Naruto looked confused by this. **" Now you maybe wondering what aura is well it is the combination of a persons emotions, level of strength and soul." **Naruto looked at Byakko with a look of awe.

"**Alright next is the fusion. You and I will with proper training be able to fuse into one being." **Naruto had a thoughtful look on his face as he thought about what he would look like with fur and a tail and started laughing.

"**I see you find that funny but I am not sure what we will look like as I've never performed this technique before." **Naruto stopped laughing and listened to what Byakko had to say.

"**But I do know the abilities that you will gain from the fusion. You will be able to use Holy chakra. This is the chakra of Kami herself very powerful stuff, it has the power to heal any wound, and a limited power over creation." **

"**Now lastly there are combination jutsu's that you can use with a tiger partner."**

"Can I use them with Tora than?"

"**If he is trained properly than yes he will be able to use them. But I also have a special gift for Tora. I will give him a portion of my powers so he will basically be an adopted member of my family he will be bonded to your family and essentially become like the another contract like the other dragon and phoenix contract." **Naruto looked at Tora and picked him up and smiled at him.

"You hear that Tora you're gonna have amazing powers like Byakko-sama...you like that?" Tora roared as loud as he could to show his approval.

"**Well there is only one last matter to take care of...Naruto I want to train you and Tora properly so I will need you to come to my domain to stay until you have completed the training." Byakko stated.**

Naruto looked torn he was really missing his ji-chan and his friends. But on the other hand he was going to be trained by an entity that was strong enough to be Kami's guardian. He thought intensely about the pros and cons of doing the training and after further debate he had made his decision.

"I accept your offer Byakko-sama." Naruto said as he stood and bowed.

"**Alright than let us leave this place to start your training." Byakko said.**

Byakko prepared to transport them to his realm but was stopped by Naruto who told him that he had to get his pack and other personal effects. So Byakko made himself grow big enough so that he could transport Naruto on his back and took him across the lake to his things. Naruto gathered his things and told Byakko that he was ready. A blinding light engulfed the trio and when it was gone the three had vanished. The world would not see Naruto for another five years.

_

* * *

__Kagebunshin no jutsu:_ Shadow Clone technique

_Katon: Houkakasui:_ Fire Stream

_Katon: Housenka no jutsu:_ Mythical Phoenix Flame technique

_Suiton: Kirigakure no jutsu:_ Hidden Mist technique

_Suiton: Reppousho:_ Gunshot


	6. Chapter 6

Chaos. One word that would describe the state of this setting. Men clashing blades with one another. Why? A rebellion, that's why. Iron country was in the middle of a revolutionary war.

Samurai from both sides swung their blades with precision trying to defeat their opponent. Two sides lead by two different leaders. Makoto Shishio the current Daimyo and resident tyrant, and Mifune Kamiya leader of the rebels and hope of the people.

In the midst of battle in this war torn country we find our hero and his partner. Naruto and Tora were fighting alongside the rebel forces. Using his superior speed to take out multiple opponents at once.

His katana was stained red with the blood of his enemies, his face unreadable to even the most experienced, his eyes betrayed nothing not even the remorse and sadness for all of his enemies. This was the battle form of Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. The almost 12 year old child was something to be feared when he entered this state. You may be wondering what a child is doing in this war well it started when the boy had returned to the elemental countries...

_Flashback start..._

_Five years. It has been five years since he was in the Elemental countries. He was currently in the same cave that he had met Byakko. Now here he stood after five long and grueling years his aura radiating power. Byakko had once joked with that if were a tiger he would be an alpha for sure._

_Walking to the waters edge he looked himself over. He stood 5'3'' a little taller than average for a boy his age. His body was toned from the years of constant training giving the boy muscle definition only scene on body builders, though he was not huge he was still somewhat beefy. His blonde hair now falling to the middle of his shoulder blades, it was tied in a low ponytail. It still held its spikiness even at this length, his bangs fell down to his eyes, and two long locks of hair fell to his chest framing his face. His whiskers still their on his cheeks. His eyes were still the cool blue that shown with knowledge and power._

_He wore no shirt, only bandages wrapped around his abdomen, tattered black shorts that looked a few sizes too small--he didn't have any materials to make extra clothes & he didn't want to kill any tigers to get them--no shoes and to finish off his look he wore a orange and black tigers pelt over his shoulders like a cape. His daisho on his left hip ready for him to draw at a moments notice. All in all for someone his age he would be turning many heads with his rugged and feral looks. Though he changed on the outside he was still the same intelligent boy he was when he was six and he still held onto parts of his old self like his will to grow stronger to protect. Hearing a soft growl coming from behind him draws him away from his reflection. _

_Behind him was horse sized Tora. He was scarred from his many battles within the tribe and against Naruto, which made him look even more intimidating. He also had an aura of power that was radiating off him just like his master/partner._

_"It's good to be back huh Tora?" said a smiling Naruto._

_"Indeed master." Tora replied. He had learned how to speak after spending five years around the tiger tribe who all knew how to speak the human tongue._

_Naruto gave him a look and said. "You know Tora I thought we came to an agreement about that you can call me by my name or nii-san or even partner?"_

_"Heh...I know but it is funny to hear that you still get agitated and feel the need to express that you don't like it." Tora said with a growl that was as close to a laugh would sound._

_"You would get a kick out of something like that you loser." _

_"If you don't like my sense of humor then bite me!" _

_"Ha, remember the last time you said that to me hmm..." Naruto said with and animalistic grin._

_Tora began to sweat the last time he did that Naruto had actually bitten him. It wasn't soft either it actually hurt like hell. They had gotten into a fight after with Naruto coming out victorious. It was a battle of animal vs. animal not animal vs. human like it was supposed to be. Naruto was truly vicious when he let his primal side free. He was an alpha thru and thru._

_"It's fine you don't have to like it." Tora said to appease the blonde._

_"Ha still afraid of my primal side huh?" Naruto rhetorically questioned._

_"Well since were back we might as well wander around for awhile before we return to Konoha. Get our bearings ya know, we have no knowledge of the world." Naruto said before walking onto the lake to where the entrance to the cavern was._

_With that said the two wandered around the nations. They would do missions when available. Even doing odd jobs for free or for a place to stay for the night. They had even gone around eliminating bandit camps and freeing their captives and giving their loot to the captives--he didn't need such things he had lived off of the earth for five years while training--. He was quickly finding himself admirers, soon his name was well known in small villages where he was looked upon as a hero, though he never once told them his name most just called him the '_Tiger_'. He had even earned himself some followers who asked him to train them after they had seen his skill so they could defend their families which he agreed to he taught them only the basics he felt that farmers and merchants needed at most to know how to defend against the average bandits before leaving them with scrolls that held more training. _

_Now after a few weeks of traveling the two ended up in Iron country. To say that the state of the country was crappy was an understatement. They saw families on the streets, homes were in ruins, they saw how exhausted the people of this country were._

_While traveling through the country looking for a suitable blacksmith to fashion them armor. When they came upon one of the better villages they lucked out and found out that the blacksmith here was famous for making tools of war. Asking for directions the duo headed to where they could find the smith. They walked until they came across the building that had been described to them. Entering the building a bell rang._

_"Hello anyone here?" Naruto said hoping that the smith was in._

_"Hello child are you lost?" A big burly looking man said._

_"No sir. Are you the blacksmith that runs this place?"_

_"Indeed I am child. Why?"_

_"I am in need of armor for me and my partner." As he said this he gestured to Tora who was too big to fit through the door._

_"Why would a child like you need armor?"_

_"Ah see I am a wondering warrior and I feel that I may need it very soon."_

_"Really don't tell me that you have entered into this bloodbath they call a war?"_

_"No. I have not. I have just been wandering from country to country helping those that need it."_

_"Hmm...a vigilante life huh. Well I can make anything from pots and pans to heavy armor if I can't then my name isn't Mugen the Hammer."_

_"Well this is what I would like it to look like." Naruto said as he reached into his pocket to pull out a little pouch. Digging into it he pulls out a scroll the size of a his finger. _

_"Growth" he said and the scroll grew back to its normal size._

_Seeing this Mugen thought _"Ninja. Hmm maybe I should contact Mifune and have him enlist the help of this boy. He carries himself like a veteran of the battlefield would."

_Handing the scroll to Mugen Naruto says. "Do you also have any quality metals that you would be willing to sell?"_

_"Hmm interesting design…did you draw this yourself?" Naruto nodded. "You're quite talented, I can have this done in a week and a half."_

_"That's fine."_

_"As for the metals I do have a stock of quality iron from the mines of this country you could purchase."_

_"That's fine how much for half your stock and the armor?"_

_Mugen looked deep in thought trying to figure out his price. Half his stock was a lot of metal and a lot of money, the armor he was asking for was no joke either. Plus all that labor he had to put in. He finally came up with a price._

_"That'll be 18,750 ryo. Can you come up with that much cash?" Mugen said._

_Naruto than pulled out the small pouch and pulled out another scroll and enlarged it. The scroll was labeled 'Funds'. Unrolling it Mugen saw hundreds of formulas. Naruto placed his finger on one of the formulas and channeled chakra and poof a stack of 10,000 ryo popped out. He did it once more and another stack of 10,000 ryo popped out. _

_"That is 20,000 keep the change. I will be back in a week and a half Mugen-san." Mugen nodded and went to complete his order._

_A week and a half later..._

_Naruto made his way to Mugen's shop. He had spent the past week further mastering his techniques. Along with his _Kagebunshin_. _

_He was now in front of the door to Mugen's. He told Tora to wait out in front. Entering the shop he sees Mugen wiping down the counter._

_"Good day Mugen-san. I believe my order should be ready for me." Naruto said._

_"Ah Naruto-san good day. Let me get your order." Mugen headed into the back where he fashioned all his orders._

_He came back with three scrolls. One for his order of Iron, another for Naruto's armor, and the last for Tora's armor. He handed them to Naruto and said to try it on._

_Naruto nodded and channeled chakra into the scroll that held his armor. Seeing all the requested pieces of armor he began to suit up. A few minutes later he had his armor on and asked Mugen if he had a mirror. Mugen nodded and pointed to the mirror near the wall._

_Looking at himself he saw that the chest plate was orange with black trimming. On his shoulders were two Tiger heads. His forearm guards were the same colors only they had extended to the back of his hands and looked like tigers paws, they also had four spring blades in them that extended when chakra was channeled through them. His boots were knee high and were also shaped like tigers paws and like his forearm guards had spring blades in them . All he needed now was a new pair of pants and a belt._

_"Hmm you look even more like a veteran of the battlefield." Mugen says._

_"Thank you. This armor is perfect. Now I just need to get Tora to try his on."_

_"ROOOAAARRR!!!"_

_"Something's going outside." Naruto said as he heads to the door. Mugen followed after he had grabbed a weapon. When the two reached the door they saw 20 or so samurai with their blades out pointing at Tora who was standing protectively in front of a girl around 16 years old._

_"Is there a problem here?" Naruto asked kindly._

_"Who are you boy? and yes we have a problem with this fucking tiger here." one of the samurai said._

_"I see well what is the problem that you have with my tiger friend?" Naruto said trying to figure out what the hell was going on while using the political skills he learned from reading when he was training._

_"So this tiger belongs to you then?" Naruto nods. "Well since the girl behind your tiger is a criminal then you aiding and abiding a criminal so your punishment is DEATH!" the same samurai said as he charged at Naruto._

_The samurai raised his above his head and slashed downward aiming to cut the boy in half. When brought his blade down it sliced right through Naruto who faded away. As soon as the samurai's blade made its stop Naruto appeared inside the mans guard with a fist in his gut. The force of the punch knocked the man out so Naruto seeing this pushed him off his fist and watched him drop like a rock. Seeing that there leader was down the rest of the samurai charged._

_"Tora, Mugen-san protect the girl." Naruto commanded as he entered his battle state._

_"Naruto-san I don't think it's time for heroics, you will be--" he was cut off by Naruto who raised his voice._

_"Tora guard them both." Tora nodded and stood protectively around the pair._

_"It's been awhile since you've had your fill right Yoko?" Naruto said as he unsheathed his blade. His blade flashed red for a second before it faded._

_Seeing that the samurai had yet to make it close enough to strike him he waited for the first one to get close enough. It wasn't long before one reached him. The samurai swung a diagonal slash from his right shoulder to his left hip. Naruto dodged and with extreme precision sliced of the mans thumb and index fingers of his sword wielding hand. The man screamed as he felt the pain, he would not be able to hold a sword again. _

_Seeing Naruto focus on one of them another samurai tried a thrusting attack when his back was turned. When he was about to make contact Naruto spun around the mans blade and sliced the mans fingers off. The remaining samurai looked at the boy who had dispatched 3 of their comrades one of which was their captain with relative ease. Feeling scared they all charged at him thinking that he would not be able to escape them._

_"Sorry Yoko but I don't feel like these guys are entertaining enough for you so I'll end this now." Naruto said as he saw the samurai all charge at him frantically._

_He closed his eyes and listened to the music of battle. Listening to the music he waited till he felt the need to enter into this dance of death. He heard the music call to him to start his dance, and with that he moved with fluidity and grace as he quickly slashed and cut his enemies down. Dodging blades left and right he kept his eyes closed as he danced to the tune of the music he was hearing. When the music slowed down and stopped completely so did his body. When he was sure the music had ended he opened his eyes and saw that the samurai were all on the ground clutching their sword hands as a result of him removing all of their index fingers and thumbs._

_Swiping his blade to rid it of any residual blood that still lingered seeing none he sheathed his sword. He could feel the stares that the young girl and Mugen were sending him. It always happened nobody expected a child to be able to do the things that he did, and just now they had witnessed him effortlessly defeat more than 20 experienced samurai._

_Walking over to where the leader still laid he performed a weak raiton jutsu to shock him awake._

_He gave the downed man time to collect himself before he spoke to him. The man took a minute or two to get himself to a sitting position. He stood in front of the man looking down on him and spoke._

"_So what reason does a group of samurai want with this so called 'fugitive'?" Naruto gestured to the female being guarded by Tora._

"_I won't tell you shit little boy!" the man said in a condescending tone, and to add emphasize to it he spit on Naruto's new armor._

"_You know that I have easily dispatched of you and your squad without killing any of you. So why don't you just tell me what I want to know and then you'll be free to go and get patched up. How about it won't you tell me?"_

_The man looked around he saw all of his men down on the ground groaning in agony and clutching their sword hands. Looking closer he sees that this child had removed everyone of his squads index fingers and thumbs making them unable to wield a sword in that hand every again. They were lucky he thought, he had only ruined their chances of staying samurai when he could have easily killed them. Though something told him that when they return to Shishio-sama's palace they will be killed for their failure to complete their mission._

"_She is the oldest daughter of the rebel forces leader. Shishio-sama wanted her so that he could use her as leverage with Mifune."_

"_Thank you. You may leave." Naruto says as he turns his back to the man._

"_Shishio-sama will hear of this and when he does you can bet that he will come after you. Leave this country for your own safety boy, and learn to keep your nose out of other peoples business." the downed man said to the retreating figure._

"_Then let him come."_

"_Are you alright miss…" Naruto asks the older girl._

"_Yes thank you for your help. I was captured earlier when we were moving bases. My name is Kaoru Kamiya third child of Mifune Kamiya." Kaoru responded._

"_A pleasure to meet you. I am Naruto Uzumaki and this is my partner Tora." He gestured to the tiger._

"_Naruto-san it would be best if we get Kaoru-sama inside lest more of Shishio's followers show up." Mugen said._

_The group headed into the workshop with the exception of Tora--who is still to big to fit through the door. Making it inside Mugen leads the two adolescents into the living quarters of his workshop. He told them to make themselves at home while he puts on some tea. Naruto and Kaoru sat quietly until he came back with a fresh pot of tea. Placing cups in front of them he pours them some tea._

"_Now since you are Mifune-sama's daughter I believe we should get you back to base." Mugen said as he sipped his tea. He noticed that neither of the two made an effort to even taste it and found it a bit odd. Until he realized the reason for their uncertainty._

"_Relax I didn't poison it if that's what you two think. I'm one of Mifune-sama's men. I have been making and supplying his men with weapons and armor." this statement seemed to ease the two's minds._

"_Now as I was saying we need to get Kaoru-sama back to her father before Shishio finds out that his men were defeated. I suggest you come along Naruto-san I'm sure Mifune-sama would like to offer his thanks and help you get out of this country."_

"_Very well I'll escort you two to the base I don't want either of you to be attacked on the way to there." Naruto said._

"_Good we should leave immediately. I will seal up all my supplies before we go." Mugen said as he placed his cup down._

"_Here this scroll should be enough for you to seal everything that you have in this place." Naruto said as he dug into his special pouch and pulled out a small scroll before undoing the reversing the shrinking jutsu. It was about 3 feet tall._

"_Here I'll send a clone with you so he can right the modified storage seal that will hold everything." He crossed his fingers and muttered "_Kagebunshin no jutsu_." as another Naruto appeared. Mugen said thanks and went about sealing his things._

_It took Mugen almost an hour to seal up all his belongings. After telling the pair that he was ready to go--and Naruto shrinking the scroll so it was easier to carry--the three left the shop. While Kaoru rode on Tora's back Mugen and Naruto were on his left and right. _

_After traveling for half an hour the group had made it outside of the city and entered the forest near the outer walls. Mugen motioned for the group to stop. He then cupped his hands near his mouth and made what Naruto thought was the rebel forces friendly signal._

_A group of armored samurai then came out of the surrounding trees. One was a man with red hair in a high ponytail and had a cross shaped scar on his left cheek. He wore a red kimono top, and white hakama pants. On his left hip sat a daisho. He stood at the height of 5'5" and had sharp amber eyes. He spoke first._

"_Mugen-san who is this boy and why is Kaoru-sama sitting atop a tiger?"_

"_Well you see Kenshin-sama this boy showed up at my armory a week ago and commissioned himself a set of armor for him and his partner." Gesturing to the Naruto and Tora. "He came back when it was done and when he was trying it on we heard some commotion coming from outside the shop. We spotted a group of 20 or so of Shishio's samurai chasing Kaoru-sama. Luckily Tora was there because they had surrounded her right out in front of my shop. She was hiding behind Tora when Naruto-san and I came out of the shop. Well Naruto-san dispatched of them quite easily and proceeded to question their leader about the incident." Mugen finished taking a few deep breathes._

"_It's a good thing you were there than Naruto-san. You have my thanks along with Mifune-sama's. You may leave and please do not tell anyone we are in this area." Kenshin said as he began to turn around._

"_Wait Kenshin-sama I had actually brought him here so that Mifune-sama could meet him and get him to fight for our forces." Mugen said._

_Kenshin turned back to him and stared at him. After staring at the blacksmith he turned his attention to the boy who had saved Kaoru. The boy met his eyes and did not once look away though he could tell that he was ready to flee and or attack if the need came. Kenshin broke the gaze and said._

"_Fine let's hurry back Mifune-sama is waiting to make sure his daughter is okay." before leading the way back to the base._

"_Alright then let's go meet the man, c'mon Naruto-san." Mugen said as followed after the red haired swordsman._

_Rebel Base_

_The group of swordsmen and princess entered the base hidden in the side of a mountain. Kenshin dismissed the samurai as he continued to walk towards Walking through the base he saw many of the samurai bow and/or salute the red haired swordsman and princess. Kenshin lead the group through the numerous hallways until he reached the meeting where the officers of the rebels were planning out strategies. _

"_Alright this is where Mifune-sama is along with his most trusted officers." Kenshin told the group before opening the double doors._

_All chatter had ceased in the room the moment the doors opened. Around a square table were the rebel forces most prominent leaders. On the table sat a map of the country with colored blocks representing armies, and important structures._

"_Pardon my interruption. Mifune-sama Kaoru has just arrived along with Mugen-san, Naruto-san and his companion Tora-san." Upon hearing their names the four stepped forward into the room._

"_Ah, my daughter I'm glad that you are alright when I had heard that you were captured when we were moving I sent out men to retrieve you." Mifune said as he pulled his daughter into his arms._

_Releasing his daughter he turned to the other two people and one animal. Looking at the eldest he nodded his head he had known Mugen was one of his supporters. He had often commissioned weapons and armor from the man. Next he looked to the horse sized tiger standing next to a child in armor. Looking at the child he saw that he held himself with the sort of confidence of those who had entered many battles and come out of them victorious. _

"_Hello Mugen-san it is good to see you again." He said reaching his hand out to the man who in turn reached out and grasped it._

"_Naruto-san and Tora-san right." Naruto and Tora both nodded their heads._

"_Well nice to make your acquaintance. But why are these two here Kenshin?" Mifune said turning to his general._

"_I believe that Mugen-san should explain." Kenshin said._

"_Well then Mugen-san care to explain?"_

"_Of course Mifune-sama." _

_With that said Mugen told everyone people in the room of the battle that had happened in front of his armory. Even going as far as to tell them how he had made sure that the men would never hold a sword in their dominant hand. Leaving nothing out he finished his story telling with taking deep breaths._

"_Well now. That is quite the tale. I would like to thank you Naruto-san for helping my daughter and lessening Shishio's forces even if it was only a little. If there is anything you need than please feel free to ask." Mifune said while bowing slightly._

"_No problem Mifune-san. I couldn't very well leave a girl alone against 20 experienced swordsmen." Naruto said._

"_Well still you have my thanks." Mifune said._

"_Mifune-sama I had brought Naruto-san and Tora-san here so that we may ask him for his assistance in this war." Mugen said._

"_Hmm. I would like his help he has shown that he would be a great help to our forces. So Naruto-san, Tora-san what do you say? Will you join us in our fight or will you continue to wander?" Mifune asked._

"_Hmm. Well I really have no place else to go so and I'm in no hurry whatsoever…Why not?" Naruto replied._

"_Excellent! Welcome to the rebel forces my friend. We will of course have to screen you to make sure that you are not a spy or someone intent on sabotaging us." Naruto nodded._

"_Alright well then Kenshin! Please show Mugen-san and Naruto-san to a room." Kenshin nodded and led the two to their rooms for the remainder of the war._

_Flashback end…_

Now here our young hero stands in the middle of the a carnage filled battlefield. Bodies of allies and enemies alike lay unmoving on the ground. Naruto's face shifted to form that of sadness. He knew he had ended many lives today but he would not let the guilt hold him down he would mourn for them but not to the point that he would never get over the grief. He had been in dozens of battles since he had returned, enemies ranging from your regular run of the mill bandits to experienced samurai and ninja. He knew that should he hesitate he could lose his life and then he would no longer be able to protect. You might find this contradictory to popular thought saying something like "Killing people to protect people?" well the way Naruto saw it was that he killed people not only to protect people but also so that those people he was protecting wouldn't have to stain their hands in blood.

"Naruto-san it's time for us to head back to base." Kenshin said to the battle hardened boy.

"Indeed enough blood has been spilt today." Naruto said before turning to walk back to base with the man who was called Battousai the Manslayer.

He had been fighting side by side with Kenshin for many months now. Mifune having heard the potential that Naruto had placed him under Kenshin's leadership. The two of them were the main driving force behind the rebel forces strength. They had received many names on the battlefield, manslayer, demon, monster. Yes, the two of them were something straight out of their enemies nightmares.

To Naruto Kenshin was a great comrade though he was even more silent then he was. The two had formed a sort of bond on the battlefield. Naruto could rely on him to watch his back and vis versa.

"Brother you have improved." came the deep growling voice of Tora.

"Have I? I can't really tell when Kenny over here is showing me up at every turn." Naruto said while chuckling at the face Kenshin made when he used his nickname.

"Really now Naruto-san do you have to call me that? And yes you have improved from what I have seen. Your stances and technique have become much better since I have first seen you." Kenshin said truthfully.

"Well then I guess I will have to challenge you to a duel of swords then eh Kenshin?" Naruto stated while he stopped walking.

Kenshin had noticed that Naruto used his actual name and only on occassions of seriousness did the boy do that. He noticed that he to had stopped walking. Not even turning around to face him he spoke.

"A duel it is then. One week from now at dawn on the seventh day." with that the two separated to prepare for what would most likely be the best fight they have ever had so far in their lives.

**Alright sorry for the long update. I lost all my chapters including this one and the next 4. So I tried to do this out of memory. It is to set up his time in Iron country and his interaction with Kenshin who will become his number 1 ally. Hope you like it. But personally I feel it is kinda weak.**


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